Broom facts for kids

A broom, a common cleaning tool.

A broom is a helpful cleaning tool. It has stiff fibres, also called bristles, attached to a long handle. This handle is often called a broomstick. People use brooms to sweep dirt and dust from floors. A smaller broom, sometimes called a whisk broom or brush, is used for smaller messes.

The History of Brooms

Women using brooms made from bambusa in 1899.

Brooms have changed a lot over time. Long ago, people just used branches or bundles of natural fibres to sweep. These early brooms were usually round. While easy to make, they weren't very good at sweeping large areas.

People would attach these bundles to a handle. Some handles were short, like for a whisk broom. Others were long, for sweeping floors or fireplaces. The old word for this tool was besom. The word broom originally meant the plant material used to make it.

Today, many brooms use fibres from a plant called broom corn. These fibres are long, straight, and strong. They are naturally bound together, which makes them great for sweeping.

The biggest change in broom design happened in the 1800s. The Shakers invented the flat broom. This new design has a much wider sweeping area. It makes pushing dirt much easier. Almost all brooms made today are flat brooms.

Brooms and Witchcraft

Brooms have a long history with witchcraft. They are often shown with female witches in stories and movies. These brooms usually look like the old-fashioned round ones.

Interestingly, the first known person to say they flew on a broomstick was a man. This happened in 1453, and his name was Guillaume Edelin.

Brooms in Stories and Books

• In the Bible, a story called "The Parable of the Lost Coin" (Luke 15:8) uses a broom. It shows a woman sweeping carefully to find a lost coin. This shows how brooms were seen as part of women's daily work.
• Many fiction stories show witches using broomsticks for flying. Usually, the broom flies with the brush part behind the rider.
• The famous Harry Potter book series also features magical flying brooms. In these books, both boys and girls use them. They are especially important for players in the game of Quidditch, much like horses are used in polo.
• You can also find many toys and costume accessories shaped like brooms.

Related pages

• Mop

Images for kids

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  Sorghum-made brooms with long handles as well as short handles

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  Making brooms, 2012

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  Common soft broom in Indonesia

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  Carved reliefs on stone tomb doors showing a man dressed in Hanfu and holding a broom, Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD), from Lanjia Yard, Pi County, Sichuan province, Sichuan Provincial Museum of Chengdu, China

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  A soft broom commonly used in Hainan Province, China

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  Typical Filipino soft brooms (walis-tambo), Banaue, Ifugao, Philippines

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  A hard-broom (walis-tingting) stall in the Philippines. Philippine hard brooms are often made from the hard primary veins of the leaves of the coconut palm frond.

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  A typical broom at a home in Haiti

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  A broom with bristles traditionally made using broom corn

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  A broom at a Rwandan home, made out of twigs

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  Two 'turkey tail' style brooms made from broom corn

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  Floor broom

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  Street clean volunteer uses a broom, Earth Day 2021

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  broom made of the stem of coconut leaf

See also

In Spanish: Escoba para niños