18 Fun Ways to Teach Telling Time

The concept of time can be a daunting prospect to teach kids but teaching your child about time from a young age is imperative. They should understand the passing of time and how time is part of their everyday routine. There are plenty of visual supports that can keep kids interested in clocks and help them to tell the correct time soon before long. Here are a few fun ways of teaching kids to tell time at home and in the classroom.

1. Time Travel Online Game

This is a basic game to help kids to learn both an analog clock and digital time. The concept of time is also illustrated with the background changing as you move between AM and PM, a fun online way to make teaching time more exciting.

2. Routine Worksheet

Students understand the concept of time better when they can apply it to their own routine. Let them complete a worksheet with a daily routine with the correct times and compare it to their own routines. They can also use clocks with moving hands as a show-and-tell to share their routine with their classmates.

3. Time Card Sort

When learning to tell time, students need to understand the length of time that passes too. Have them sort activities into how long they take, whether it be minutes, hours, or weeks. They can also sort activities on whether you do them in the morning, afternoon, or evening.

4. What's the Time Mr. Wolf

This fun party game is a great way to get kids excited about learning time. Start off a time lesson with a quick game of "What's the Time Mr. Wolf" to get students on their feet and ready to learn. You can also theme the game around certain times that students have learned like hour times, half-hour times, or even 5 minute times.

5. Tick-Tock-Toe

Take a game that kids are already used to and adapt it as a time activity. Print out Tick-Tock-Toe playing cards and have students call out the times on the analog clock as they place their playing pieces. They can also double for makeshift bingo cards if you print out a few of the same and hand them out to students.

6. Telling Time Dominoes

Print out this free printable time domino game where kids have to line up the digital clocks and the analog clock. This game can be replayed many times as the order will change every time. The aim of the game is to eventually line up the start and end blocks after building the time-snake.

7. Time Word Problems

Students who can read should be able to tell time, based on word problems. They can practice from a worksheet but also create their own word problems to ask their friends. This is also a good way to introduce different wordings like "quarter past nine" and "nine-fifteen".

8. Time Flies Board Game

Kids love board games in any shape or form. This fun printable board game will tap into their competitive spirit as they race along the board while telling time on the way. To make the game more difficult, have students calculate how much time has passed between the two clocks they move between.

9. Insect Matching Puzzle

These fun printable cards fit together like puzzles and can help young learners see the correlation between digital and analog time. Time reading will become a breeze after a few rounds of this game.

10. Elapsed Time Ruler

Print out a 12 hour or 24-hour ruler for each student. You can either stick it to their desk as a ruler or wrap it around their wrist like a watch to help them visualize the passage of time. This can be a visual aid that students use throughout the day and not only while doing a time activity.

11. Rock Clock

This is a fun activity to do at home that will also encourage some independent learning time. Children can build their own rock clock from natural materials like sticks and stones to help them become confident time tellers.

12. Hickory Dickory Dock

This classic nursery rhyme is a playful way to help very young kids to tell time. Using clothespins to add numbers to a clock is also a way to improve their fine motor skills and the mice on the pins are an adorable addition. Once the clock is complete kids can also use it to practice moving the hands on a clock to the correct time.

13. Lego Clock

Let kids unleash their creative side by building a clock from lego. These clocks are colorful, kooky, and playful. You can ask kids to adjust the time throughout the day to let them practice this skill on a regular basis.

14. Around the Clock Book

Reading books about time is a great way to introduce clocks and the concept of time into a child's routine in more than one way. This book has fun illustrations and a quirky story about how Mr. Crocodile learns how to make friends.

15. Craft Clock Flower

At some point kids will have to make a paper clock, but why not get crafty and create something more unique than the boring paper plate version. This flower model clock activity is much more fun and teaches time in a more memorable way.

16. Parts of a Clock

Students who are starting to learn how to tell time must also understand the function of each part of a clock. This clock printable is a quick activity to teach the different parts before students learn how to tell the time.

17. What's the Time Video

Fun songs and nursery rhymes are great ways to introduce time in class. This video has a catchy tune and focuses on basic hour clocks and a few five-minute intervals nearer to the end. Kids will love to get up and dance while learning the basics of telling time.

18. Timebots

Teaching students to tell time should not only be based on a digital and analogue clock. They should also be able to identify the words that they will use in a time sentence. This time bot printable is a great way for students to connect all three ways of telling time in one cute worksheet.