Studying to inform time is a crucial early math lesson because it’s a real-world talent that’s used daily by everybody. Studying about minutes and hours can grow to be tedious quick, so that you’ll wish to have a whole lot of artistic and hands-on methods to deliver it to life for youths. Whether or not you get artful with a paper watch or lively with musical clocks, your college students can have a superb time studying all issues time. There are, after all, outdated standbys on our listing, too, like books and worksheets. Children may even get in some additional observe with a free on-line sport or two. Take a look at our private favourite telling-time video games to strive with the kiddos in your life.
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Arms-On Actions for Telling Time
1. Make a paper clock
Children typically get confused concerning the meanings of the numbers on the clock. As an example, a 3 means 3 o’clock but in addition quarter-hour. This intelligent paper clock, with lift-up flaps, will assist learners grasp the idea. To start, reduce two 8-inch circles from items of coloured card inventory. On the highest circle, write the numbers 1 via 12, ensuring they’re equally spaced. Between every quantity, reduce a 2-inch slit from the sting towards the middle.
Reduce a slim 4-inch arrow from the leftover card inventory and label it “minute.” Reduce a 3-inch arrow and label it “hour.” Stack the highest circle (the one labeled 1–12) on prime of the clean backside circle. Connect the hour and minute palms via the middle of each circles. Make certain the arrows are free sufficient to rotate.
Lastly, carry every flap of the highest circle and write the corresponding time on the underside plate. As an example, carry the two and write :10, carry the 6 and write :30, and so on. College students can observe telling time by setting the palms of the clock, guessing the time, and lifting the flaps to test their solutions. To make this exercise even simpler, use paper plates as a substitute of card inventory.
2. Coloration the areas to study the hours

Many kids get confused about studying the time on an analog clock, particularly when the hour hand falls between two numbers. As an example, at 4:00, it’s clear that it’s 4 o’clock on the nostril. Nonetheless, when the clock ticks on to 4:55, it’s just a little trickier to learn.
Do this simple exercise to assist your college students perceive the idea. Print out a worksheet with a number of clockfaces and provides one to every pupil. On a big clockface, display to your college students the way to learn the time between 12:00 and 12:59. Coloration within the triangle between the middle level, the 12, and the 1. Clarify: If the hour hand is wherever on this colour zone, the time is learn as 12-something. Transfer the palms in your clock and display: 12:05, 12:20, 12:45, and eventually 12:59. As soon as the hour hand is instantly over the 1, the time is learn as 1-something. Coloration within the triangle between the 1 and a pair of a unique colour and proceed as above. Have college students comply with alongside on their worksheets as you’re employed collectively, then fill in the remainder of the triangles on their very own.
3. Put a puzzle collectively

There are three frequent methods to signify time: with a drawing of a clock, with numbers, and with phrases. Assist your college students make the reference to these simple three-piece time puzzles. Utilizing coloured index playing cards, draw a set of matching time playing cards. For instance, a clock set to five:15, the numerical illustration 5:15, and the phrases “5 fifteen.” Use different-colored units of three to create extra puzzles, or higher but, have your college students create their very own.
4. Drive dwelling the idea with linking math cubes
This hands-on demonstration will assist reinforce your college students’ understanding of time. Collect college students in a circle on the rug. Within the middle, place a big piece of chart paper. Have a bucket of linking cubes close by. Draw a big clockface on the paper, labeled appropriately from 12 o’clock to 11 o’clock. Ask a pupil volunteer to hyperlink 5 cubes collectively. Place the hyperlink between the 12 and 1. On the skin of the circle, write the quantity 5 adjoining to the 1. Clarify that the hyperlink represents the 5 minutes between the 12 and the 1.
Subsequent, ask one other pupil volunteer to hyperlink 5 cubes collectively. Lay this between the 1 and the two. On the skin of the circle, write the quantity 10 adjoining to the two. Proceed across the circle, inviting totally different college students to take part. When the circle/clock is full, go across the circle and rely by fives, driving dwelling the idea.
5. Make a rock clock

This exercise is a enjoyable approach to mix artwork and math. First, take your class exterior to collect rocks and sticks. Every pupil ought to have 12 similar-size rocks and two sticks (or one that may be damaged up). Have college students paint their rocks a shiny colour, and when they’re dry, label every with the numbers 1 via 12. Organize the numbers of the clock (the rocks) in a circle on a sturdy paper plate. Break the sticks into the suitable size to signify the hour and minute palms. Lastly, name out totally different occasions and have college students observe representing that point on their stunning clocks. Give every pupil a big ziplock bag to retailer their clocks for future use.
6. Take it exterior with a Hula-Hoop clock

Pull out the sidewalk chalk and head exterior for some observe telling time. Hula-Hoops make good analog clocks, however in the event you don’t have any, youngsters can merely draw giant circles as a substitute. Pair college students up and provides every pair a Hula-Hoop, two items of chalk, and two pipe cleaners (one longer than the opposite). Have them work collectively to write down the numbers on the inside circle. On the outer circle, have them write the corresponding items of 5. As an example, at 1:00 write 5, at 2:00 write 10, and so on.
To play, college students will take turns working towards setting the time. One pupil will name out a time and the opposite pupil will use the pipe cleaners to set that point. The caller will test for correctness, after which they’ll change locations.
7. Set the time with play dough

It is a playful, hands-on approach to observe telling time. Merely present college students with a dry-erase board, a marker, and two blobs of play dough in numerous colours. First, college students will draw a circle and label it as a clock. Then, they’ll roll out the play dough to create the minute and hour palms. Make certain they make the hour hand shorter than the minute hand. Have college students observe telling time by setting the palms on their clock, studying the time aloud, then writing the outing within the correct kind (with numbers and a colon) on a recording sheet.
8. Distinguish between a.m. and p.m.
Remembering the distinction between a.m. and p.m. generally is a bit complicated at first. To observe together with your class, play this enjoyable hands-on sport. To start, select a pupil to name out an exercise—as an example, consuming dinner. Then, have the opposite college students put their palms on their head in the event that they assume that occurs within the a.m. In the event that they assume it occurs within the p.m., have them cross their arms throughout their chest. Reveal the proper reply, then select one other pupil to name out an exercise. Proceed till everybody who needs to name out an exercise has been chosen.
9. Play a spherical of headbands
Create enjoyable clock headbands with moveable arms for this sport. First, have college students reduce out a clean clock template and fasten colored-paper arms with a brad within the middle. Subsequent, glue the clock to a bigger circle reduce from building paper. Lastly, connect the big circle to a thick strip of building paper and kind the strip into a scarf. These clock headbands will not be solely enjoyable and foolish to put on, they’re good for a sport of What Time Am I? Children set a time on their clock, then flow into and ask different youngsters to inform them what time it’s.
10. Dance round with a fast spherical of musical clocks

In case your college students like to play musical chairs, they’ll love this telling-time model of the sport. Cross out a clockface worksheet to every pupil and have them draw a time on their clock. Then, have them depart it on their desk. Give every pupil a recording sheet, then have them seize a pencil and prepare to maneuver!
Begin the music and let youngsters dance round from desk to desk. When the music stops, college students will document the time on the clock of the desk in entrance of them. (Have them additionally write the title of the coed who wrote that point to test for accuracy.) Begin the music once more and carry on going!
11. Shake up the time of day
This superior time-telling sport additionally offers youngsters observe with bar graphs. To organize the shaker, merely paste small analog clockfaces exhibiting numerous occasions into the bottoms of an empty cardboard egg carton and add a marble. For the recording sheet, give every pupil a clean bar graph template. Information your college students to label the x-axis with the hours on a clock (1–12) and the y-axis with the minutes (5–55).
To play, divide college students into teams of three or 4. The primary pupil will shake the carton, then open the highest to see what time the marble landed on. Then all the college students will colour within the block of the primary roll on their bar graph. Proceed play till time is up. Make certain college students are working collectively and checking each other’s solutions.
12. Add a hook to the hour hand
This intelligent time-telling trick will assist your college students grasp studying the minute hand because the hour hand shifts. To display, use a big clock with out the plastic cowl over the face. Connect a bit of pipe cleaner within the form of a backward J to the hour hand. Set the clock to the highest of an hour—for instance, 3:00. Now slowly rotate the minute hand and watch the hour hand because it strikes to the appropriate. Clarify to college students that till the pipe cleaner is cleanly aligned with the 4, all of the occasions will likely be written as 3:one thing. The hook of the J will remind them to look again, not ahead. If doable, have college students observe on mini clocks of their very own.
13. Write the room with I Spy time

Write the Room actions are a enjoyable approach to get your college students up and shifting. For this enjoyable time-telling exercise, publish paper analog clocks with occasions crammed in across the room. On every clock sheet, additionally write a problem query comparable to “What time was it 10 minutes in the past?” or “What time will or not it’s in half an hour?” and so on. Have college students journey with a document sheet, pencil, and clipboard. Once they discover a clock, they document the time on their document sheet. They get a degree for every appropriate reply. For every problem query they get proper, they get two factors. Once you test your college students’ work, it is possible for you to to inform who wants extra work and who wants extra instruction.
14. Match up plastic eggs
There are such a lot of enjoyable methods to make use of plastic eggs in the classroom. Do this enjoyable exercise to assist your college students observe telling time. Put together forward of time by writing occasions (in phrases or digital time) on half of the eggs and analog clocks with the identical occasions on the opposite halves. Combine up the colours so college students have to essentially look intently to make a match. It is a nice exercise for station work or early finishers.
15. Make your classroom clock bloom
Flip a classroom wall clock into a reasonably flower to bolster what your college students have realized about telling time. Connect flower petals reduce from bright-colored building paper across the perimeter of the clock. You should definitely label every petal with the corresponding minutes for every quantity on the clock. Add a colourful stem on the backside with a brief leaf labeled “hour” and a protracted leaf labeled “minute” to remind college students which hand on the clock is which.
16. Train items of time with concentric circles

We love this exercise that helps college students put totally different items of time in perspective. To create this time wheel, college students might want to reduce seven concentric circles out of coloured building paper. Begin with the smallest circle, then reduce every of the next circles a bit bigger. Every circle needs to be a unique colour. Join the circles along with a brad. Then, beginning with smallest circle and dealing their manner out, have college students label the circles on this sequence:
- Second
- Minute
- Hour
- Day
- Week
- Month
- 12 months
The visible illustration of coloured circles will assist college students take in and retain the idea. Have them hold their time wheels of their desk for future reference.
17. Calculate the length of your favourite actions

Are your college students able to sort out elapsed time? This visible exercise will assist them apply telling time to their on a regular basis lives. Create a worksheet with three columns and three rows. Within the first two columns, insert an analog clock with out arms. Go away the third column clean. Label the three rows Exercise #1, Exercise #2, Exercise #3.
To start, ask college students to decide on three actions they do. As an example: soccer observe, artwork class, consuming breakfast, doing homework, and so on. To fill of their chart, have college students label every row with the title of the exercise. Then, on the primary clock, they’ll draw within the time the exercise began. On the second clock, they’ll draw within the time the exercise ended. Within the third column, they’ll write the entire time the exercise took. Repeat for every exercise.
18. Play Rush Hour
It is a enjoyable sport to play with companions or small teams. Every pupil will want their very own mini instructing clock (like a Judy clock) and every pair or group will want a die. To start, have every pupil set their clock to 12:00. To play, college students will take turns rolling the die, studying the course card, and shifting their clock the correct quantity of time. The course playing cards ought to learn as follows:
- Transfer forward 5 minutes.
- Transfer forward 10 minutes.
- Transfer again 5 minutes.
- Transfer forward quarter-hour.
- Transfer forward 20 minutes.
- Transfer again 10 minutes.
The spherical ends when the primary participant makes all of it the way in which across the clock to 1:00.
19. Learn books about telling time
What higher approach to train absolutely anything than with books? Search your college library, your classroom library, and on-line and brick-and-mortar sources for books about telling time. Then, choose just a few of your favorites and skim them aloud throughout math time.
20. Play Telling-Time Bingo

Children like to play bingo so why not use it for time-telling observe? Search the web for a customizable analog clock bingo card template or create your individual. Label the clocks on the cardboard with no matter time abilities your college students are engaged on, whether or not it’s hours, half hours, quarter hours, or to the minute. Copy the cardboard and go one out to every pupil. Then, play just a few rounds of bingo utilizing the same old guidelines.
21. Beanbag time
Linking ideas to bodily actions helps college students combine studying. For this lively sport, line college students up in the midst of the classroom, or higher but, play this sport open air. Give every pupil a beanbag. Place papers with totally different occasions, written in analog, digital, and phrase kinds, on the ground across the room. Then name out a time. College students might want to discover the time and precisely toss their beanbag onto the paper. Give college students a minute to retrieve their baggage, and name out the following time. If college students want to change locations in line in the course of the sport, that’s allowed.
On-line Telling-Time Video games
22. Journey via time
ABCya has a whole lot of free on-line video games for younger youngsters that you could play even and not using a subscription. This enjoyable time-travel sport permits youngsters to decide on whether or not they wish to observe setting a digital or an analog clock. We particularly love the time-traveling theme and the lovable cartoon graphics that make this exercise additional kid-friendly.
Study extra: Time-Travel Game at ABCya
23. Choose the appropriate reply
This easy and free sport doesn’t even require a sign-up to start taking part in. Children are given multiple-choice choices to pick out from when guessing the time displayed on the analog clock. Children obtain 10 factors for each appropriate reply given and lose 10 factors for each incorrect one. We expect youngsters can have enjoyable attempting to beat their excessive scores!
Study extra: Telling Time at Toy Theater
24. Inform time to the quarter hour
This website has a whole lot of totally different on-line telling-time actions throughout totally different issue ranges. We’re particularly keen on the one which requires college students to inform time to the quarter of an hour. Children are introduced with 4 totally different analog clockfaces and requested to pick out which one shows the time on the backside.
Study extra: Clockworks Practice at Mr. Nussbaum
25. Acknowledge patterns
We love that this sport combines studying time with sample recognition. This web site has extra time-telling video games ought to the children in your life grasp this one!
Study extra: Time Patterns at Math Video games
26. Personalize the training expertise
This free on-line sport gives up a whole lot of room for personalization. You possibly can choose whether or not to determine time to the closest hour, half hour, quarter of an hour, and even minute. You may as well choose a 12-hour or 24-hour clock. Relying in your youngster’s talent degree, you may as well choose to play in timed or untimed modes. The cute circus theme and bear ringmaster will hold any child entertained!
Study extra: Telling the Time at Mathsframe.co.uk
27. Apply with elapsed time
Telling-time video games that transcend simply figuring out a time on a clock are a few of our favorites for older youngsters. This one requires youngsters to determine the time on an analog clock after which decipher what time it will likely be in a sure variety of hours.
Study extra: Time Teller at RoomRecess.com
28. Examine digital and analog
This website begins by explaining the variations between digital and analog clocks in addition to the way to learn each. It then takes you thru numerous workout routines to check your understanding.
Study extra: Telling the Time: Digital and Analog at Tiny Faucet
29. Make the mouse run up the clock
That is such a enjoyable spin on figuring out the time on a clock. We love the play on a basic nursery rhyme and the oh-so cute mouse and cat graphics. Guess the appropriate time on the cartoon grandfather clock and a cute mouse will run up it. However get it incorrect and an offended cat will make itself identified!
Study extra: Hickory, Dickory, Clock at ICT Video games
30. Take a quiz
This video is marketed as being for English language learners, however it could work equally nicely for youths simply studying to learn clocks. Children can simply watch it or they’ll hold some scrap paper useful to document their solutions.
Study extra: Telling the Time Quiz on YouTube
31. Race to the proper time
What’s extra enjoyable than taking part in a sport with buddies? A number of gamers can play in opposition to each other as their cute giraffe avatars race to be the primary one throughout the end line.
Study extra: Giraffe Dash at Arcademics
Get Math Vocabulary Phrases Printables

We’ve got two lists: one for grades Ok-3 and one for grades 4-6. Every set of phrases is organized by idea strand after which alphabetized for simple use. Fill out the shape on this web page to obtain your copy!
How do you train telling time? Come trade concepts within the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Fb.
Plus, try Creative Ways To Dress Up Your Classroom Clock!
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