The ability to tell time is one of the most important everyday skills that your baby will have to learn. The sooner he masters this, why hide, difficult science, the better for everyone. But how do you teach a child to tell time? How to explain to the kid in an accessible and understandable way what the seasons are and why the minute hand is needed?
Start over
For a child, time is something non-existent, amorphous, indefinite. Of course, the baby understands that life does not stand still, but it is not yet possible for him to characterize this movement.
Teaching your child for about an hour and minutes doesn't have to be a difficult task. Make study to tell time more fun with these simple steps. When Caleb Ravich, 8, is in the playroom of his Hawthorne, California home, he runs to the kitchen to see what time it is, despite there being a large clock on the playroom wall. The analog clock is frustrating for him, says his mom, Lucy. "He'd rather leave the room to look at the digital clock on the microwave."
Most children after kindergarten do not experience problems with the basics of the watch. But more complex concepts introduced in first to third grade can be tricky, points out Malile Abramshe, third grade teacher in Congress, New York. How can you get your child to motivate the clock master? Spend a few minutes each day as your little one speeds through the challenging aspects of time.
Introduce him to the most basic concept of time, namely the future, present and past.
Give simple examples.
- Future: soon we will go to visit grandma.
- Present: Now we are eating a cake.
- Past: We built a birdhouse and hung it on a tree.
Explain to your child the difference between three actions performed at different times. Operate only with words that are understandable to the baby and actions that are interesting for him.
What confuses kids the most about telling the time on the clock with their hands? “The thing is, numbers have two separate meanings,” explains Amy Sperrazza, a second-grade teacher in New York City. To get her students' attention, she tells them that the numbers on the clock are double agents - and each one has a secret identity. I'll explain that secret identification number one is, for example, five, says Sperraza. - And this identity appears, like when Clark Kent becomes Superman - only when the big hand is on the number.
Pass her idea and practice the two identities of each number with your child on your watch at home. Or make a simple clock that visually illustrates the concept of a double agent: Leslie Buttow, a mom in Ronkonkoma, New York, made a practical cardboard clock for her 8-year-old daughter Alexandra that contains both real numbers and each of their secret identities.
When to teach a child to tell time?
It is necessary to acquaint the child with the future, past, present, as well as with the seasons and time of day as early as possible. At 2.5-3 years old, children can already easily navigate in the concepts of “day - night”, “tomorrow - today”, “winter - summer”, as well as name twelve months and four seasons.
By quickly counting an A, you'll learn to read an analog clock much easier, Sperrazza explains. Point out to your child that when he counts on his heels, every number ends with a zero or five. Once he can easily skip the count to 60, have him point out the "secret identities" on the clock as he listens to the song. For example, you can tell her that the recipe takes about 45 minutes. If you find your child is still struggling with time, consider getting him a watch to wear and replace the digital clock in his room with an analog one, says Abramshe.
You can introduce a baby to a watch at the age of 4-5, the main thing is that by school he can freely determine the time by the clock.
How to teach a child to tell time?
When teaching a child to determine time, one should follow a certain sequence, namely, move from simple to more complex.
For confusion about elapsed time in particular, buy or make paper clocks with movable arms for practical use. By doing this, you take away any reason for her to check her watch herself. Roy Adams, a dad in St. George, Utah, allows each of his 9-year-old twins and his 7-year-old daughter a 15-minute turn to play video games - and the kids have to tell each other about the time. I'll ask my youngest, "What will the clock be like for 15 minutes when it's your turn to play?" he says. After a couple of months, they all became observant watchers of the clock and began to remind me when it was time to leave for school or dance class.
Conventionally, the whole process can be divided into three stages.
- Teaching the concept of "seasons".
- Learning the concept of "time of day".
- Learning the concept of hours and minutes.
Introducing the baby to the calendar
This is the first step in introducing the child to the concept of time. First, tell your child about the 4 seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn. For clarity, show beautiful photos every time of the year. Also on sale there are special materials that help the child learn information faster: books, CDs, cartoons.
The child will be ready to learn how to read the clock when he/she can count at least 60, have a clear understanding of the concept of time, and understand differences in quantity expressed through numbers. Therefore, most children are ready to unravel the mysteries of the clock from 5 to 6 years old.
However, while children are like sponges that absorb everything, learning to read a clock may not be as easy as you might think. In this case, nothing is better than resorting to games, because the forced learning is always boring. So now we give you some ideas so you can have some fun.
It would be useful to introduce the baby to the Soviet cartoon "Twelve Months".
Associations are very helpful. Describe each season and associate this description with the tactile and emotional sensations of the crumbs.
- Winter - snow, cold, New Year, Santa Claus, snowman, warm clothes.
- Spring - melting snow, streams, boats, the first foliage.
- Summer - heat, sun, river, sea, ice cream, berries and fruits, cottage, village.
- Autumn - cold, wind, rain, gray sky, mushrooms, puddles, bright leaves.
Show your child as the season progresses. distinctive features: first grass, sticky snow, acorns and dry leaves.
Before moving on to reading the hours, it is best to prepare the ground. Therefore, it is best that the first hours of the child do not mark hours, but events. So you can take into account the concept of time. You can take a large cardboard sphere and instead of writing numbers, draw the main activities that the child does during the day.
Make a real clock with plastic plates
Then cut out some arms and hold them in the center. Have your child update the clock throughout the day. All you need is two plastic sheets, a finger, a marker and some cardboard. Take one of the plates and draw the minutes, from 0 to the next, take the other plate, place it on top and draw the hours. You have to make sure the hours and minutes match, because now you will have to trim the little tabs on the watch clock.
The next step is to buy a calendar. He will visually teach the child to navigate the annual cycle. It is better to choose a simple calendar with large numbers and letters. The entire year must be represented on one sheet.
But what calendars should not be bought:
- with foreign inscriptions;
- detachable;
- with abbreviations (days of the week, months);
- with moving flag.
Hang the calendar in a prominent place and every day tell your baby what month, day of the week, date is. The past date can be crossed out or painted over with a felt-tip pen.
Then draw and cut a few arrows on cardboard, the more for a minute, the less for an hour. Place on two plates with stopper. You have to make sure the clock dish is on and the minute at the bottom is hidden. The game consists of turning the hands so that the child determines the time they mark. Interestingly, the minutes are not visible so you will have to memorize them, but if you forget them, you will only need to remove the clock tab to see the minute below. So you can practice when you're not on your side.
Make your own play set.
- Print or cut out four colorful illustrations representing the seasons.
- Take 4 envelopes and paste pictures on them. Make signatures - "Winter", "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn").
- Find 12 bright pictures for each of the 12 months. Make cards with signatures (January, February, etc.)
As you may have guessed, this game is simple, but very useful. Invite your child to put in each envelope those months that relate to the season indicated on the envelope. Praise your child for a job well done.
Take a large piece of cardboard that is rectangular in size and divide it into small squares that mimic a parchment board. Inside each square you must place a picture of a clock indicating the hour. Each of the players must leave by rolling the dice, but can only move forward if they correctly read the time corresponding to it. Every time someone makes a mistake, they must back off. Win the one who reaches the goal first.
In this case, it is about imitating the game of bingo, but for the child, it is necessary to practice the clock. Draw classic bingo cards and give them to each player. Make 5×5 grids in them and draw a star in the center. Check each square with the digital recording time, for example: 12.
Now introduce the child to the time of day. It is not difficult to do this, since the kids themselves feel and see the change of day to night, night to morning, etc.
You can offer the baby useful games.
- Draw or cut from magazines miscellaneous items: comb, pillow, toothbrush, lamp, etc. Ask your child what time of day he uses this or that object. Praise the baby for each correct answer, and award a small prize for 10-20 “hits”.
- Have the child make short story about what he does in the morning/afternoon/evening. You can ask questions yourself: when do you brush your teeth? When do we go for a walk? When does dad come home?
These games will prepare the kid for learning to navigate by the clock, because the time of day is directly related to the clock face and hands.
Take an analog watch and randomly move your hands. If it matches one of the clocks the child has on their card, they must mark it as in bingo. Whoever wins 5 wins horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
Many children, as they get older, are interested in watches. Some people consider this curiosity to be very early, while others take a little longer to get motivated. However, the truth is that sooner or later they must learn to read the clock, as this is one of the first mathematical skills to develop. How to teach a child the clock in a fun way?
Now that the baby knows the concepts of "year", "month", "week", "day", you can introduce him to the concepts of "hour", "minute", "second".
- First of all, buy a watch with a large dial, 12 numbers and thick, large hands. Everything should be clear and bright. In the bookstore, you can choose a special set for teaching the child to tell the time by the clock. These sets include cardboard clocks.
- Introduce your child to arrows. The second hand for ease of learning and perception can be ignored for now.
- Tell me which way the hands on the clock go.
- Explain to your child that 1 day = 24 hours. That is, small hour hand should go around the whole dial twice.
- Explain that an hour is when the minute hand is at 12 and the hour hand is at any other number. The number indicated by the hour hand is the "exact time".
Now you can explain why you need a minute hand.
When is a child ready to learn to read a clock?
Some children are interested in learning to read clocks since they are very small; though that doesn't mean they've mastered the basics already. In fact, it is not until the age of 5 that a child has the necessary skills to understand what time means and how it is measured. At this age, they can already distinguish between the concepts of "today" and "tomorrow" and have a fairly clear idea of the time that passes between one hour and another.
However, these abilities are not enough to learn to read the clock, it is also necessary that the child can count, at least before adding, it is important that he understands that the numbers follow an increasing order, which means that 3 is greater than 2 and less than 4; otherwise you won't be able to know the clock, because time is pure mathematics.
Of course, learning will be easier if the child can count up to 60 and knows how to multiply by 5. In this case, you can first tell the baby that 1 hour is equal to 60 minutes.
- Move the minute hand from 12 to 1. Say that 5 minutes have passed.
- Move the hand further by 2. 10 minutes have passed. (2 times 5 is 10)
When the child understands what in question offer him a workout. Move the arrow, for example, to 8. Ask your child: “What time is it?”
Teach Your Child to Read a Clock in 3 Steps
When a child understands the concept of time and knows how to count to 60, he will be ready to unravel the mysteries of the clock.
Teach her to read a digital clock
The simplest clocks are digital because they keep accurate time and only read the numbers that appear on the screen, so they are a great choice to start teaching time to a child. The task is to explain that the first number that appears corresponds to hours and the second to minutes. You must explain to him that a day is divided into 24 hours, each hour has 60 minutes and each minute has 60 seconds.If the child knows the multiplication table for 5, he will multiply 8 by 5 and get the answer. If he is not yet familiar with the multiplication table, invite him to count: 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.
Do not introduce the concepts of “five to five”, “to a quarter”, “half” until the child learns to quickly and easily tell the time by the clock.
In order for the child to understand this measurement, you can use stones of three different colors, where one will mean hours, another - minutes, and the third - seconds. In this way, you can explain how seconds advance, minutes pass, and hours pass as well. It will be a little confusing at first, but soon you will understand the concept.
Help him create his first hand watch
When the child can read the digital clock, it's time to teach him how to read the clock on the watch. good strategy is to help you build your first hand watch. You can use cardboard, cut it off and use two straws or different sized pens to represent the hands of the clock. You must divide the sphere into different sections for each of the hours and minutes.
Clock Games
To consolidate success, and at the same time check how much the child understood the information you presented, invite him to play simple games with clock.
- Remove the clock from the wall or take a cardboard analogue with moving hands. Set any time. For example, 9:20. Have your child tell you what time it is. Move the arrows until the baby becomes more confident in saying the time, but do not overdo it and do not tire the child.
- There is a reverse version of the above game. Ask your child to set the clock to the time you name.
- Take two clock faces and set them to different times (for example, 2:30 and 20:20). Ask the child what he usually does at this time (sleep, wash, have breakfast, etc.).
When the watch is ready, you can play to move the hands to the color the child prefers so that together you identify the marked time. You can let the child do this at random, but you will always need to read the times you mark.
Let him play with the clock
Kids hate doing things out of obligation, so it's handy for you to learn how to play. Let him play with the clock you created or give him an old one to manipulate if he has a sound much better. You can also take advantage and buy your first wrist watch, preferably by hand, you will feel the importance and be more motivated to learn how to read the time.
Didactic material
There are many pictures and tasks on the Internet that will help your baby learn to tell the time by the clock. Download and print (preferably in color) these tasks and offer the baby.
There is also specialized literature. The following list is recommended reading.
- "Conversations about space and time", T. Shorygina.
- "Smart watch. Learning to understand time”, N. Naydenova.
- "Measures of time, length, mass, cost", G. Shalaeva.
- "Learning to tell the time (book with stickers)", N. Morgan.
- "Clock and time", G. Chernenko.
Conclusion
Children love to learn and are drawn to knowledge. Every kid wants to comprehend the mysterious "science" of determining the time. Do not push the child away, but clearly explain to him everything that interests him. Use colorful materials - toys, cards, books, coloring books. Show your child a movie about time and clocks. The more information you provide your child, the better his exploratory instinct will be satisfied.
My son asked me yesterday that at what age does he become an old man. And he glanced instinctively at his little watch, as if the years might be trapped. And this is for a child, the concept of time is more complex than one of the algebras.
After all, hours, minutes and seconds are nothing else. If children learn to read and count to one hundred, why don't they learn the time? From the age of five, they become interested in hours, years and the passage of time. Let's use it to teach them how to read the time on their watches.
Games for learning kids clock
Today there are watches specially designed for children to tell the time. They turn on the voice so they can listen to it and the interactive pets so they can tell them apart. But children can also be taught to understand clocks through play. The simplest clock for them is the one that marks the digital hour. Just read the numbers that appear on the screen. Your mission is to understand that the first number is what "tells" us the time, and the other two numbers tell us how many minutes. If a child is very young, he will not understand that a day has 24 hours and every hour means sixty seconds.
Time is an abstract concept, because it is impossible to wrap your arms around it or just see it, moreover, the flow of time in different situations can either slow down or, on the contrary, fly headlong. And if even some older people have problems with a sense of time, then what can be expected from small children. But sometime you need to start teaching your baby to understand time, to understand time by the clock in order to plan personal time: for rest, study,. Where to start, at what age, and most importantly, how to teach a child to understand time by the clock - let's try to figure it out together.
When can you introduce a watch to your child?
Even from infancy, the child feels the passage of time: at first, he gets used to the regimen and feels the change of day and night. Having become a little older, he freely appeals with the concepts of day, night, evening and morning, and after a short period of time, it will not be a problem for him to tell what the seasons are, what month or day of the week it is. So, gradually the child comes to a very important point, namely - acquaintance with the clock.
AT modern world watches with a dial have practically disappeared from our lives, and they have been replaced by electronic numbers, so it has become even more difficult to teach a child the concept of time by a clock with an arrow. One of the parents will ask: “So, maybe you shouldn’t bother with the dial and immediately start working with electronic mechanisms?”
The answer is negative, because only by understanding the principle of operation of a mechanical watch, the child realizes how time runs, what a second, minute, hour is, and besides, it will be much easier for him to do math by adding up time intervals. Looking at the running arrows, the child will also learn some philosophical concepts, such as the cyclical nature of time and the fact that lost time cannot be returned. And to retrain a child to perceive time on an electronic scoreboard, then it’s not so difficult.
Psychologists and specialists in the field of educating preschoolers advise simulating situations to familiarize the baby with the clock, starting approximately from the age of 6. But this does not mean at all that early stages the child should not be shown a mechanical watch, on the contrary, the more often the baby encounters these devices, the better. And parents should not easily show the clock, but also focus on them with their voice (in 5 minutes we will go for a walk; we will heat the milk in the microwave for 2 minutes; we must get up at 7 in the morning so as not to be late for the kindergarten).
So, involuntarily, the child will begin to wonder how parents determine by this thing when the cartoons begin. When it matures, you can begin to learn this complex and such a necessary concept as time.
It is not enough for kids to see the dial, they need to feel the passage of time. To do this, the child can be offered in game form draw as many circles as possible on a piece of paper in a certain amount of time, for example, in one minute. Then ask to repeat the procedure, but increase the duration of the task to two minutes. Compare the results. It is important that the child himself monitor the situation, you can use the arrows on the dial or hourglass.
The first basics of the study of time
Before starting training, you need to check the child’s elementary knowledge of counting, because if he studies numbers in the course of training, this will not only drag on for a long period, but will also discourage him from all hunting.