Teaching telling time is an important lesson for early education. Learning telling time helps children begin their early math skills and start to better understand the world around them.
Teaching telling time is an important lesson for early education. Learning telling time helps children begin their early math skills and start to better understand the world around them.
Our popular GIANT Encyclopedia of Lesson Plans includes hundreds of activities cultivated from teachers and education experts. Below is one activity to teach children in your care to begin telling time.
How Time Flies!
Learning Objectives
- Practice telling time by the hour.
- Develop small and large motor skills.
Circle or Group Time Activity
- Ahead of time, use masking tape to make a large (8'-10') circle on the rug or floor.
- Show the children an analog clock face. Explain that each numeral represents a time to do something, such as eat breakfast, go outside, have lunch, come home, and other things families do.
- Discuss routine times the children are familiar with at school.
- Display several other time-telling devices, like alarm clocks, sundials, watches, and hourglasses, and explain how they work.
- Choose 12 children to sit around the masking tape circle on the rug. Give each child a numeral-card necklace and ask these children to sit in the places marking the hours facing toward the center of the circle, holding the numeral cards so others can see them.
- Give one child a yardstick and ask him to stand in the center of the circle, pointing the yardstick to one of the children holding a number. Ask the rest of the children what number the yardstick is pointing at, and explain that on clocks, this would indicate what time it is.
- Repeat this several times and then ask other children to sit on the clock face. Give other children time to move the yardstick "hand" and tell the time.
Assessment
Show the children several clock faces and ask them what hours the clocks are showing.
Get more great lesson plan ideas from the GIANT Encyclopedia of Lesson Plans!
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