Where to buy Montessori mops, brooms and carpet sweepers.
Where do you buy Montessori, child size mops, brooms and carpet sweepers? When I first started Montessori in the home with my children I would see lots of examples and see pictures in blogs but my question always was 'where do you buy all these things?'.
Here it is, a really good list of options and ideas for mops, brooms, dustpans and carpet sweepers. This top list is for suppliers in the US and the bottom list is for suppliers in Australia.
Why would we want a child sized mop or broom? Young toddlers love to imitate and work along side us in the home. Rather than pretend we can give the child real materials that actually work. As the child gets older it's important that they have access to their own materials so they can easily and effectively clean up a spill or a breakage.
We want the materials in our home to be of a good quality. With mops and brooms I recommend going with a product that is able to hold up to some use and that will work well. We want real mops and brooms, not toy ones. Children are also drawn to beautiful things so we want the materials in our home to be as beautiful as possible. Is it possible to have a beautiful broom? I think so!
With mops and brooms keep in mind that height is important for the child to be able to manoeuvre and control. Here are some suggestions for suppliers within the US;
1. Junior Mop - Fuller Brush at Amazon
2. Junior Mop - Schylling at Amazon
4. Straw Broom - Bella Luna Toys
5. Natural Broom - Camden Rose at Amazon
6. Rainbow Brooms - Camden Rose at Amazon
7. Dustpan - Amazing Child Montessori at Amazon
9. Push Broom - Schylling at Amazon
10. Set of Four Brooms and a Mop - For Small Hands
11. Carpet Sweeper - For Small Hands
We have the Small Broom by Michael Olaf, it's small and ideal for toddlers to preschoolers. Of course there are some really cute brooms on Etsy, check out broomsforsale, Skagit Broom Works (gorgeous!).
In Australia the selection is smaller however there are still some really nice materials to be found;
12. Dustan and Brush - Dragonfly Toys
13. Dustpan and Brush - Send a Toy
14. Dustpan and Brush - Art Makes Sense
15. Wooden Broom - Educational Experience
16. Street Broom - Educational Experience
19. Wooden Cocobroom - Educational Experience
22. Lobby Sweeper and Brush - Staples
23. Straw Broom - A2Z Montessori
I have mentioned the lobby sweeper above, I have seen this being effectively used in a Cycle One (3-6yrs) classroom. The broom is small enough for the child to use and they can easily sweep to the pan which also has a long handle.
The carpet sweeper mentioned here is the same model that we have and use at home. It is a standard carpet sweeper and we have removed the middle section of the handle (the handle parts screw together, it's easy not to include one piece) and it is child height - perfect!
We sell a child's size mop at HWM Shop here. There are some micro fibre cloth mops around (like this one) with an adjustable handle, being able to be easily shortened for the child. You can see some the mops and brooms we have in action here and our cleaning station here.
Happy sweeping and mopping!