Even the world is becoming increasingly digital, being able to read an analog clock is still an important skill for kids. Analog clocks offer children the opportunity to find out what time feels like as they can visually see how many minutes five minutes are. It is a great way for them to feel a sense of time.
When it comes to how to teach kids to tell time, there are plenty of learning tools available that can help with that. Before you get your children their first watch, you can use games and learning devices to help them along their way to recognizing numbers first and then move to the more complicated part of minutes and seconds.
When Is the Best Time to Learn to Tell the Time?
Children should be able to properly tell the time around the age of four or five years old. However, children as young as two and that can count to ten can also begin to learn how to tell the time. Experts say that learning how to tell the time is a long process that can last between the ages of three and eight. Ideally, by the age of three to four, your child should be able to order a sequence of events and to measure short periods of time in simple ways.
What Is the Easiest Way to Teach Children to Tell the Time?
Learning to tell the time requires concentrating on two sets of different ideas at the same time. This means that learning to tell the time puts a real strain on a child's working memory, hence the importance to start teaching children early through practical and fun techniques.
To be able to learn to tell the time, your child needs first to understand the concept of time and how it related to their own experiences. You can do this by connecting time into their daily routine through simple phrases such as, It's seven o'clock - time to get up. They should also be comfortable with the numbers they'll be using to tell the time. In other words, your child should be confident with counting from 1 to 60 before introducing them to a clock.
The easiest way to teaching anything to a kid is through fun. There are plenty of games and time teaching wall clock toys to help you out. You can get creative with time teaching clock toys and do some activities together to get your child used to tell the time. The favourite time teaching wall clock toys according to parents include:
The Rainbow Face Wall Clock
It's a bright and colourful rainbow face wall clock that makes leaning tell the time easy and attractive. It's a great clock to get kids learning to tell the time by separating the 15-minute intervals of the clock into sections. Clear and precise it may be what you may need for your little learner.
Pastel Learning Time Clock Etsy
Another great option that combines puzzle and play into one colourful clock game. It is suitable for slightly older children who love learning through play, as they slot the puzzle pieces into the right order to make the clock face and point the hands to the correct time.
The John Lewis & Partners Wooden Teaching Clock
This clock toy offers the opportunity of rolling fun and learning into one. Featuring a colourful design, this clock helps young children build their understanding of number, shapes and colours, while the removable discs help them to develop problem skills from an early age.
Other helpful tips and tricks to help your child tell the time are:
1. Introduce your child to an analogue clock first and then progress onto digital. This is how they learn time telling in the school.
2. Make sure your child can count easily to 60. Otherwise telling the time is going to be extremely difficult for them.
3. Help your child understand the concept of time. Time is abstract, so it's challenging to teach and learn. Try to introduce the concept in a way that your child will relate to it. Start by talking about their average day: when they get up, when they have breakfast and when they go to bed. You can put these into time brackets like morning, afternoon, evening and night time.
4. Make it fun! This doesn't mean being a creative genius to make a clock face with your child. You can simply grab a paper plate and write the numbers of the hours around the edge. Then you can make an hour hand and a minute hand or simply use a long pencil and a short pencil. Just as easy as it sounds.
6. Teaching doesn't only happen at a certain time of the day. It happens continuously. It is one of those parenting tasks that you can build into everyday life and not feel like you have to set aside an hour or so each week to focus on. Once your child has mastered the concept of time, make it relevant in daily tasks. Comment on what time it is when you have a meal or mention the duration of something that happens every day as a bath. Make sure to regularly ask your child to tell the time throughout the day. Connecting time to something enjoyable will really speed up the learning process.
