Teach Kids to Tell Time
Teaching a kid to tell time is a watermark in his or her life. However, using two numbering systems at once (1 through 12 and 1 through 60) can be very difficult to conceptualize at a young age. To teach kids to tell time, try the following methods.
Contents
Steps
- Make sure the child can count to 60. Trying to teach the minutes in an hour before the child can count that high will be discouraging for the child and unproductive for both of you.
- Teach the 5 times tables. Understanding 5...10...15...20...etc. will make it much easier to conceptualize the minute hand on a clock.
Large Clock
- Get a large clock with big hands. A clock with no glass or plastic cover and easily maneuverable hands will be the most approachable to work with.
- Explain that the shorthand is the hour hand. Keeping the minute hand at 12, move the hour hand to various positions on the clock. Explain that any time the minute hand is exactly over the 12, it is __ o'clock. Allow the child to move the hour hand around until (s)he is comfortable reading it.
- Explain that the long hand is the minute hand. Keeping the hour hand stationary, move the minute hand around and explain what each position means to your child. Start by covering the 5-minute marks; once they understand those, progress to the “off” numbers like 12 and 37. Allow the child to move the minute hand around and practice reading it until (s)he is comfortable. Don’t worry about hours for the time being.
- Demonstrate how to read the hour and minute hand together. Start with simple times (ex. 1:30, 4:45, 8:05) before moving on to more complicated ones (ex. 2:37, 12:59) – especially ones with overlapping hands (ex. 1:05).
- Allow the child to quiz you. This will give him/her confidence and a sense of control while simultaneously getting in another form of practice.
- Quiz the child. Always be sure to do this after he or she has mastered the concepts as an encouragement technique.
Paper
- Teach the child how to draw the face of clock on paper. To make it more fun, cut out a circular piece of paper beforehand (or use a paper plate) and fold it into four sections; the centre point (where the two folds cross) and the major markers (12, 3, 6, and 9 ) will then be clear.
- Create “pie slices” on the clock. Draw a line from the center of the clock outwards to each of the 12 hour markers. Allow the child to color each pie slice differently if (s)he wants. (Starting with red at 1 o’clock and working upwards through the rainbow will make the number progression more intuitive than simply coloring each section randomly.)
- Use a crayon to demonstrate how the hour hand works. Move the crayon to various positions on the clock. Use the pie slices to your advantage by explaining that anything within a certain slice is __ o’clock. (Ex. the first, red slice is 1, the second, orange slice is 2, etc.) Allow the child to move the crayon around until (s)he is comfortable reading it.
- Draw a second clock numbered 1 through 12 with tic marks for the minutes. Don’t separate this clock into slices or color each section differently; that method makes less sense when dealing with minutes.
- Use a pencil to demonstrate how the minute hand works. Move it to various positions around the clock and explain what each position means to your child. Start by covering the 5-minute marks; once they understand those, progress to the “off” numbers like 24 and 51. Allow the child to move the pencil around and practice reading it until (s)he is comfortable. Don’t worry about hours for the time being.
- Demonstrate times using the pencil and crayon together. Make it clear that the shorthand (crayon) always shows the hour and the long hand (pencil) always shows the minutes. Position them to show simple times (ex. 1:30, 4:45, 8:05) before moving on to more complicated ones (ex. 2:37, 4:59). When the child is comfortable with these, demonstrate times with overlapping hands (ex. 12:00, 1:05).
- Allow the child to quiz you. Have him or her list important times of the day (ex. bedtime, breakfast, when the bus arrives) and demonstrate them on the paper clock. Once you’re confident in his or her ability, make a mistake and allow yourself to be corrected.
- Quiz your child. Always be sure to do this after he or she has mastered the concepts as an encouragement technique.
Big dial clock and schedule bonuses
- Purchase a big dial clock to hang in the classroom. Put long-lasting batteries in the clock to save yourself having to change it too often.
- Attach to the wall with a nail and molly bolt (butterfly bolt in some cases for dry wall and wooden studs or with a screw with a plastic sleeve for a cement wall, electric drill and hammer.
- Mount the clock where it can be easily seen at all times.
- Teach kids to tell time. As an initial project, ask them to make the bell schedule, matching it to the new clock.
- Post the bell schedule and associated event poster next to the clock. This shows them the usefulness of both learning to read and to tell time.
- Give bonuses for telling the time on the schedule.
- Put a sticky note on the schedule showing a different time each day.
- Reward the youngster who correctly points out the arrival of the time, and reads the sticky, as well as telling the reason for noting the time.
Tips
- To make a circular practice clock, trace around a dinner plate
- Guide them through the process of building a toy clock of their own. They can use this clock while learning to recognize the time that they wake up and have breakfast. Then, help them learn to recognize the time they go to school. Show them where the hours and minutes are, when they get home from school, and have dinner and watch television. Do this with them regularly.
- Don't turn this exercise into a chore. Keep it fun.
- It works she some times is confused and we used a dinner plate with paint a cut a hole in the middle put a crayon as the hour and the penciled as the minute hand you should call them hands it makes it easier to let them understand more easy.
