Telling the
time is an important life skill that all children need to master.You
can teach your child to tell the time from a young age by talking about
routines that are carried out at different times of day.
Parents need
to help their children to tell the time, as the maths
curriculum in school doesnt always allow for enough teaching of this essential skill.
Here are some
simple suggestions for teaching your child how to tell the time:
Firstly,
introduce your child to different methods which can be used to
measure the passage of time such as a watch, stop clock, 2 Minute Sand Timer
,
digital and Analogue Clock
. Set them small challenges to be done within different time frames,
such as completing a jigsaw in three minutes or perhaps counting how
many skips they can do in two minutes.
This will help them to develop an understanding of the passage of
time.
Talk to
your child about the passage of time during the day, by mentioning
routines such as Its eight oclock time to get ready for bed or
Its six oclock time for dinner. This will help your child to
recognise various oclock times and develop an understanding of the
position of the minute and hour hands.
Explain
the features on a Tell The Time Clock. A Jigsaw Clockis also useful and fun for your child as it will also
allow them to order the numbers from one to twelve and
explore the movement of the hour and minute hand.
Have a
simple
'Tick Tock' Wall Clock
in your childs bedroom, which has numbers clearly
marked and markers for each minute, so your child understands that
there are five minutes between each number.
Start by
explain to your child that the short hand shows the hour and the
long hand shows the minutes.
Explain
that there are sixty minutes in an hour- move the minute hand and
count in fives to sixty. Explain that each time the minute hand
moves around the clock once, an hour has passed, and the hour hand
will then move to the next numeral.
Turn the
hour and minute hand so they show twelve oclock. Turn the minute
hand once around and explain that an hour has passed so it is now one
oclock. Continue explaining and demonstrating other oclock
times. If your child grasps this fairly easily, ask them to show you
different oclock times and talk about what you do at that time
during the day.
Next move
on to teaching half past time, by explaining that when the
minute hand has passed half way around the clock it is half past
the hour. Practise various oclock and half past times together, and
link these to your childs daily routine. For example, Its half
past three, thats when I collect you from school. This will make
learning to tell the
time more relevant to your childs everyday life. The Let's Get Ready For School Tell The Time Book
is
ideal
for linking time and routines.
When you
child is able to tell oclock and half past time, you may want to
get them their own watch such as a Timex Time Teacher Watch, as recognition of the effort they have
made to learn to tell the time. This will also interest them in
learning to tell the time independently.
Now your
child has been introduced to oclock and half past time, practise
counting in fives to help your child tell the time at different
five minute intervals. Stop at each quarter hour and emphasis
quarter past and quarter to time.
You may find that your child learns to tell the time in a matter of days
or weeks, but keep reinforcing time during your everyday routines until
they are confident. By ensuring your child has their own watch
and clock
in their bedroom they are likely to be able to tell the time fairly
quickly and before long they will be proudly be telling youthe time is!
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