Learning to tell the time can be a little tricky for children. But being able to tell the time is an important life skill for them to learn.
To help them start to develop this skill, print out the four sheets of Pingu clocks here. Have have your child cut along the wavy line with child-friendly scissors, so that the sides can be matched like a jigsaw.
Put all the clocks on the table and mix them up. Now, have your child connect each digital clock to it’s analogue counterpart. As they match the sides discuss the time displays. Remind children that the long hand on an analogue clock points to the minutes and the short hand points to the hour. In English we always say the minutes first when reading analogue e.g. ‘It’s twenty past five.’ Meaning 5.20 or ‘It’s ten to 7.’ Meaning 6.50.
Now practise telling time on the clock in your own home – can your child read digital or analogue or both? Try and introduce the concept of time whatever you are doing – morning, noon and night. For instance why not talk about what time you will have breakfast. Or what time they will have a bath. Or go to bed (hopefully!).
Introduce time into all of your child’s activities, for instance setting a timer while you are cooking or while they are cleaning their teeth. Reminding them that lunch will be in ten minutes. Or that if they are good they can watch TV in half an hour.
You could also walk around your house and take pictures of any clocks – wall clocks, table clocks, clocks on ovens and any watches you have.
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