On the list of the most essential ✅ factors in our lives, time is ranked first by almost every individual. Thus, a person who can master the management of time will lead a better and more successful 💪 life compared to others.
So, to make your kids value the importance of time ⏰ management, they first need to learn about telling time.
So, in today’s blog post, I am going to discuss how I teach my kids to tell time in an innovative and fun way! ⤵️
Best Time Telling Activities For Your Children
These activities are interesting, creative as well, and very fun for your kids. With the help of these fun activities, you will not only be able to have a fun interaction with your child, but it will also make them read a clock in no time!
So, the time-telling activities are here as follows ⤵️:
Make A Paper Clock
This particular activity has been used for many years to educate students about reading a clock. Similarly, you can also make a paper clock by cutting out 12 paper circles, sequentially labeling them 1-12, and gluing them on circular cardboard to represent a clock face 🕜.
Then, you need to cut the long and short hands from another piece of cardboard paper and attach them to the center of the clock face.
The Matching Activity
To perform this activity, you need to print out a few images of analog and digital clocks. The kid needs to match the analog time ⏰ image with the digital time image, where both show the same time stamps.
Pro Tip: It can also be executed in an online manner with the help of a PowerPoint presentation.
Guess What Time It Is?
Similar to its name, this game revolves around the kids guessing the time shown in the analog clock.
One can perform this game by using an analog clock and showing several time stamps, which the kid must analyze and guess with the help of his knowledge.
Rock Around the Clock
This game has gained a massive liking and positive response throughout the last couple of years. And after trying it with my two kids, I definitely know why 😂. In order to perform this game, you first need to provide a recording sheet to your child.
Then, you need to start a song, and each time you start a song, your kid needs to write down the time when that song started.
Fun fact
While playing this activity with my son 👦 , he failed miserably in writing down ✍️ the correct time stamps as he was soon distracted and was grooving to his favorite songs.
However, he enjoyed the activity tremendously, so this is surely an activity that I recommend the most. 😂
Make The Time
So, in this activity, a marker pen 🖊️ and a few prints of an analog clock are required where the two hands of the clock are absent. Then, the kid must draw both the heads of the clock according to the time provided by his or her parents.
This is a very fun activity 😆 for kids who will also develop a basic understanding of reading an analog clock ⏰ through this activity.
Time Card Sort
This activity focuses on using this skill to make a kid understand the basic concepts of reading time.
So, to execute this activity, one should print various activities of their household 🏠. After this, the kid must sort each of those activities in the right time slot of the day, for example, morning 🌄 , afternoon, night 🌃, etc.
This is a great activity that makes the kids aware of their day-to-day happenings and helps them connect time with everyday life.
Clock Clothespins
For this activity, 12 clothespins should be taken, and each of them should be marked according to the timestamps of an analog clock.
After this, each of the clothespins should be attached to a paper plate 🍽️ where they can draw the two hands of the clock several times to practice their time-telling ability.
Pro Tip: You can exchange the clothespin with a few pencils as well if clothespins are not available.
Printable Watch Time
Throughout the years, wearing wristwatches ⌚ has been a fashion. Since the golden days of the 90s, this specific fashion of wearing wristwatches has received a constant liking throughout all age groups.
Almost every teenager 🙍♂️ or adult �� wears wrist watches which are considered extremely cool and stylish in the eyes of little kids 👶.
So, to recreate that experience on a miniature scale, one can print several well-designed paper watches from the internet. And then the kids can cut out ✂️ those paper watches and wear them themselves. Eventually, they mimicked the style of their fathers. 🤩
Clocks by the Cup
One can prepare for this activity by using 12 small cups and 12 circles cut from paper. The cups should be placed in a circular manner, and within the cups, there will be time 🕣 written in minutes.
For instance, the number 30 is written inside the sixth cup. In the center of the circle ⭕ there would be two rulers 📏 signifying the long and short heads of an analog clock.
Hence, with the help of this activity, the kids can learn about the connection between hour numbers and minutes, which is an essential aspect of reading an analog clock.
Learn to Tell Time
I recently made my son play a very engaging and informative online activity known as “Learn to Tell Time.” This activity allows a child 👶 to enjoy the uniqueness of a new experience 🎮 as well as it teaches a kid about time 🕣.
According to me, this is the perfect way to handle the kids of this generation just by combining these two key elements.
Visual Timetable
In this specific activity, one should print out the activities of the kids at a particular time of the day ⛅ and then it should be attached to the wall so that the kids can see it.
This activity is one of the most effective ways of teaching the passage of time ⏰ and also so that they can understand the use of time management in their daily lives.
Pro Tip: This activity must be performed in a constant daily manner not only in order to make the kid learn about time but also to make the kid manage time in a more efficient manner.
Sidewalk Chalk Clock
This activity requires the needs of two people. So, in this activity, one should draw a giant clock 🕜 with the help of sidewalk chalk.
Then, two people, including the kid, would work together to show a specific time by moving their bodies around the huge clock drawing 📝.
Pro Tip: This activity can also be performed inside the house by replacing temporary marker pens instead of chalk.
Build a Clock
To teach kids 👶 about reading time, they should first know about all the different parts of a clock. So, with the help of this activity, a kid can easily learn about the different parts of a clock.
For this activity, one should build a clock mat, and then they should cut out 12 numbers for the clock hours and two rectangles for the hour and minute hands.
Springtime Flowers
This is a very creative activity that will not only teach a kid about time but will also improve his art and craft skills.
To perform this activity, one should first prepare a color painting of a flower pot 🌷 and then they should attach a clock face 🕜 to each of the flowers showing different times. This flower pot can then be attached to a bulletin board 📋.
Pro Tip: Any paper can be used to make the face of a clock, but the use of colored and decorative materials will make the flower pot look even more pretty.
Color Spaces
To make a kid completely understand time, he or she should be taught about the time between each number on a clock.
So, this activity perfectly fulfills that goal. Thus, to perform this activity, one should print out clocks, and then the child should highlight ✍️ to show the amount of space present on the face of a clock.
Making a Clock with Linking Math Cubes
This activity helps the children to understand the distance between each of the numbers, therefore explaining the measurement 📏 of time between them. To perform this activity, one should draw a large clock 🕜 consisting of numbers for hours and minutes.
Then, one should gather a few maths cubes, and then the spaces should be filled with five maths cubes representing how the minute hand moves.
Hula Hoop Clock
In this activity, a hula hoop would be used to create a clock face with the help of chalk. Then, two sticks, where one is shorter and the other is longer, should be used to represent the hour and minute hands.
After this, the child can show any time ⏰ on this hula hoop clock, which the parent will say.
Race to Beat the Rush Hour Clock
For this activity, several Judy clocks and dies 🎲 will be used. Kids will be given directions for rolling 1-6 on the die 🎲, after which the students will continue rolling the die until it reaches the goal time.
Pro Tip: If more than a single child is performing this activity, then this activity can be made more competitive by adding a points system to this specific activity.
Clock Hats
To make this learning much more fun for kids, you can create a clock hat!! To create this clock hat, one should cut out construction paper 📄 in the shape of a hat, and then with the help of a stapler or tape, and it should be made wearable.
Then, a clock face should be printed out and glued on top of which hour and minute hands should be attached using two chopsticks 🥢.
Conclusion
My son and I had a wonderful weekend all because of these activities. These activities not only helped me have some good laughs with my adorable little son but also made my son learn about this important thing known as “telling time.”
We all enjoyed this little quality time of ours before returning to our busy lives. I also promised him to play these activities again next weekend.
I also hope you all enjoyed reading through this blog article of mine, and I would be delighted if you would share your experience regarding the usage of such activities with your children. 😇
I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. Here to help you with play-based learning activities for kids. ( Check my Next startup Cledemy.Com)