Are you struggling to support and encourage your child who can’t tell time? From the ages of 6 and 7, your child will be taught this life skill in schools, but if your little one is struggling or falling behind, then don’t worry – whilst this is likely a source of worry for your family, teaching children to independently read the time is often a challenging task and will probably require the use of additional resources and extra support. That’s why, at EasyRead Time Teacher, we are dedicated to making learning how to tell the time an accessible and engaging experience for any child or adult who can’t tell time. From engaging aids, to our EasyRead clocks, our resources and interactive tools make learning a fun and engaging experience and support parents and children alike to become confident in telling time.
The struggle of telling time
Learning how to read and understand the time is a crucial skill for any young child’s development. Not only is it important for their syllabus and academic development, but it also helps them understand the concept of the passing of time, manage their daily routines, and develop a sense of responsibility. However, some children may find it challenging to grasp this concept, leading to frustration, a sense of falling behind their peers, and concerns around their own capabilities. If your child can’t tell time or is struggling, then it’s important to identify the signs early on and understand the common reasons behind their difficulties.
The most obvious sign that your child is struggling with telling the time is their inability to read analogue clocks or understand the relationship between the hour and minute hands. For young children, many of the challenges come from low level confusion that arises in the moment, rather than a deep-rooted confusion around the passage of time and the overwhelming responsibility of learning to track this passage. However, if your child’s confusion comes from being unable to understand the relationship between numbers and time, or struggling with concepts like half past, quarter past, and quarter to, then their learning will greatly benefit from the inclusion of resources, games, or real-life examples into their daily routine. Additionally, if your child is consistently late or struggles to manage their personal time effectively, it could be an indication that they need additional support to develop their understanding of time.
Supportive strategies to help your child
If your child is having trouble developing this life skill, don’t worry – these difficulties are much more common than many parents realise, and there are several strategies you can employ to support their learning and help them become confident in this essential skill:
1. Use visual aids and resources: Visual aids, such as our EasyRead clocks, provide a tangible representation of time and make it easier for children to understand the relationship between the hour and minute hands. Our clocks and resources feature colour-coded circles for the different hands and clear labels for the 12/24 hour and past and to methods, making it easier for children to break down the overwhelming concept of time into smaller, actionable steps that make it easier to interpret the time.
2. Create a daily routine: Establishing a consistent daily routine is a quick and accessible way to help children develop their understanding of time progression and how it relates to their daily activities. Set regular times for meals, bedtime, and activities, and involve your child in following the schedule by encouraging them to remind you of the time, or by regularly asking them what time they perform a specific task and how much time they have left before then.
3. Break it down: Time is an overwhelming concept for small children, especially when faced with analogue clocks and complex concepts. In order to break down the learning process into smaller, manageable steps, start by teaching them to identify the hours, then move on to the half-hour, quarter-hour, and so on, backed up by consistently asking them to practise telling you the time. Gradually introduce more complex concepts as they become comfortable with the basics, including switching to the 12/24 hour method or introducing a digital clock.
4. Make it fun: Learning should be an enjoyable experience for children, particularly when learning an important skill that they will need to use for the rest of their lives. Incorporating games, activities, and resources into their time-telling practice will help your child come to see time as a puzzle to be solved, or an engaging activity, rather than a complex or overwhelming task, and will develop a positive relationship with managing their own time.
By employing these supportive strategies, you can help your child overcome their difficulties and develop a solid foundation in reading and understanding time. If you’re interested in exploring key educational resources to boost their understanding and practise reading the time, explore our recommendations below.
⦁ Using clocks for teaching and practising
Analogue and EasyRead clocks are invaluable tools when teaching children to understand and practise their time telling abilities. They provide a clear and easy-to-read display of the time, down to the minute, making it simpler for children to identify the current time quickly and with minimal confusion. Introducing clocks throughout your home creates a learning environment in which your child is constantly exposed to time-telling opportunities, without becoming overwhelmed by these new concepts, so here are some of our key recommendations.
EasyRead Wall Clock: Hang this wall clock in your child’s bedroom or in their play area for the ideal introduction to reading the time. With their clear, easy-to-read designs and silent operation, our colourful clocks use either the past & to or 12/24 hour teaching methods and are perfect for the whole family to use to support your little ones’ time-telling skills.
EasyRead Alarm Clock: Our alarm clocks feature a large, clear display with a simple design, silent sweeping movements, and an LED nightlight for a discreet and useful addition to your child’s bedside. They’re perfect for teaching children the basics of time-telling and means that they are able to read their clock if they wake up in the middle of the night, or if they wake up before it is time to get out of bed. They also feature a crescendo alarm and a built-in light sensor that matches the brightness of the room according to your child’s preferences.
EasyRead Wrist Watch: A wristwatch is a portable and practical way for your child to practise reading the time on their own terms throughout the day. With their clear, colour-coded dials and simple teaching method, our watches make it easy for children to practise their time-telling abilities wherever they go, making it the ideal first watch for children aged 4 and above.
By incorporating our clocks into your home decor and your child’s daily routine, you can create a supportive environment for your child to practise and reinforce their time-telling skills.
⦁ Using games to practise and reinforce time-telling skills
Learning to read a clock doesn’t have to be a tedious task, particularly if your child is struggling more than their peers or is becoming overwhelmed by having to practise a skill that they don’t yet fully understand. To combat this, there are numerous fun activities and games you can incorporate into your child’s learning that will not only engage them, but also provide opportunities for them to practise and reinforce their time-telling capabilities whilst playing with friends or family.
If this sounds like the best course of action for you to take with your child who can’t tell time, then here is a rundown of our recommended activities and games from our range:
Tell the Time Cards: Our cards feature engaging, interactive designs that support children to practise reading and interpreting the time at home. Our easy-to-use cards feature different times of the day and can be played in various ways, such as snap, matching pairs, buddy-up, and bingo, and are designed to cater to the abilities and needs of different age groups, ensuring that children of all ages can engage and learn at their own pace.
TwinTime Cards: Our TwinTime Cards offer a unique and hands-on approach to interactive time telling practice. With a Past & To dial on one side and a 24-hour time dial on the other, our double-sided cards allow children to independently move the hands to display different times, and then quiz family members or friends on the displayed time. This game enhances children’s understanding of both methods of reading a clock and encourages critical thinking, but also supports other skills like counting forwards and backwards, learning fractions, and counting in 5s and 10s.
By incorporating these activities and games into your child’s learning routine, you can make the time-telling process an enjoyable and interactive experience.
⦁ Collaborative learning
Working with your child’s teacher to support their learning and develop a coordinated approach to practising is a proactive way to ensure your child has all the support and resources that they need. Teachers have access to various resources and strategies that can complement your efforts at home, including playground clocks and classroom sets, so, take the time to discuss your child’s struggles with their teacher and work together to identify the best strategies and resources to support their learning. This collaboration between home and school will provide your child with a well-rounded and consistent approach to learning this important life skill, giving them the best possible opportunity to overcome their struggles.
Celebrating your child’s progress with EasyRead Time Teacher
Teaching and supporting your child may present challenges, but with patience, support, and the right resources, they can develop this essential skill. If your child currently can’t tell time, then be sure to celebrate their progress, no matter how small, and continue to utilise our range of resources and aids to make the learning process engaging and enjoyable for both you and your child.
Explore our full range today, and equip your child with the resources and confidence they need to develop valuable time-management skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.
Learning to tell the time can be a daunting task, especially for adults who may have missed out on mastering this skill during their childhood years. Here at EasyRead Time Teacher, our team recognises this need and offers a range of specialist resources designed to support adult learners. Whether you prefer a traditional clock, a stylish watch, or interactive games and aids, EasyRead Time Teacher has you covered.
Clocks
Our EasyRead clocks are the perfect addition to any kitchen, office, or living room, and with their sleek design and range of colours, our clocks blend into any interior decor. So, whether you prefer a classic white clock or a vibrant red one, there is a clock to suit your personal taste, and with their silent sweep motion there is no distracting ticking sound, allowing you to focus on telling the time without any unnecessary noise.
The unique design of the clock contains all the information you need, ensuring that you can easily read the time at a glance. The large, clear numbers on the dial make it easy for adults to distinguish between the hours and minutes, eliminating any confusion that may arise from more complex clock designs, and our clocks are available with either the ‘minutes past and to’ or ’12 /24 hour’ method, depending upon which method you are most comfortable or familiar with.
For adults who prefer a more portable time-telling solution, our EasyRead watches are the perfect choice. Available in a wide range of colours, with the option of a fully waterproof model, EasyRead has a practical and stylish watch to suit every individual’s taste and requirements. With easy-to-use, adjustable straps, you can adjust the strap to fit your wrist comfortably, and swap them for different colours depending upon your outfit. The straps are also easily changed, allowing you to switch between different colours and patterns to match your mood or outfit, and with up to medium adult size, these watches provide a comfortable fit for most individuals.
The watch face itself is designed with simplicity and clarity in mind. The large, bold numbers make it easy to distinguish between the hours and minutes, ensuring that you can accurately read the time, and the clear labelling of “past” and “to” also helps adults understand the concept of time progression, making it easier to interpret the exact time displayed on the watch.
Sometimes, a little extra practice and reinforcement can go a long way in learning how to tell the time as an adult. We offer a range of interactive resources, games and aids, that are specifically designed to make the learning process fun and engaging to help reinforce your understanding of time-telling concepts and improve your overall proficiency.
One of our most popular games is the Tell The Time Card Game, which combines the fun of a traditional card game with the educational aspect of learning to tell the time. These cards can be used to play various games including snap, matching pairs, and bingo, so you can get the whole family involved. Each pack contains 60 playing cards showing the different times of day and by matching the digital and analogue times on the cards, players can improve their ability to read and interpret different time formats, making them a versatile tool for adult learners.
In addition to our Tell The Time Card Games, we also offer TwinTime Cards to support adults in their time-telling journey. These aids are a hands-on, double-sided teaching resource that features a Past & To dial on one side and a 24-hour time dial on the other side, with moveable hands on both sides. These cards are made from wipeable PVC and have a space below to write the time displayed on the clock, designed to provide additional practice and reinforcement and are also a great tool for practising fractions and counting backwards if this is an area in which you could benefit from additional practice or support.
We understand that every individual learns how to tell the time differently, which is why our games and aids cater to various learning styles. The visual nature of these aids helps adults develop a stronger understanding of time-telling concepts and enhances their ability to read and interpret different clock formats, so no matter your preferred method of learning, there is an EasyRead game or aid that can help you on your time-telling journey.
Learning how to tell the time can be a challenge for any child, or adult for that matter. As well as being a requirement as part of the primary curriculum, being able to identify time and understand time as a concept is an important part of a child’s development and growth. For those who have dyscalculia, learning how to tell the time is even more challenging, and often requires special accommodations or teaching techniques. It is often hard for parents and caregivers to know how to help a child with dyscalculia learn to tell the time, as the child will engage with clocks and numbers in a different way. Time teaching resources, such as our clocks, games and aids, can make a real difference to their learning, as well as supporting adults with dyscalculia.
What is Dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is often referred to as ‘mathematical dyslexia’, and is a condition that involves difficulty with numbers or mathematics. The most common symptoms of dyscalculia include difficulty performing calculations, counting backwards and understanding place value, as well as weak overall mental arithmetic skills and difficulty remembering basic mathematical facts.
For those with dyscalculia, many daily activities involving numbers become difficult, such as addition and subtraction, paying for goods with cash, and telling the time. There are several practical ways that parents can help a child who struggles to tell the time due to dyscalculia, and one of the most effective is to invest in teaching products and techniques to use at home and in the classroom.
Many of these products can also support adults with dyscalculia who may struggle to tell time, as they are designed to simplify the timetelling process for people of all ages.
How to help a child with dyscalculia
If your child has dyscalculia, or is demonstrating symptoms of dyscalculia, or you yourself require assistance, then our time telling range offers fun and useful assistance in learning how to tell the time.
Clocks
For many children with dyscalculia, the hand placement and basic design of analogue clocks can be very confusing. On almost every clock, there are only 12 numbers, meaning that up to 80% of the information needed to learn how to tell the time is missing. This places those with dyscalculia at an extreme disadvantage and makes telling time a difficult task for people of all ages. Our EasyRead clocks include a clear breakdown of all 60 minutes and can be read in 3 simple steps that can be learnt quickly and memorised for a lifetime, supporting those with dyscalculia from childhood to adulthood.
This will be particularly effective when teaching your child how to recognise numbers that are close to the hour. For many children with dyscalculia, 7:55 and 8:05 will be almost identical to 8:00, so our clocks reduce the confusion around these numbers and will make learning digital time much easier later on.
Our clocks also feature bold and colourful designs and easy to read numbers to encourage engagement. Visual models, as well as engaging designs, break down the wider concept of time and make it much more accessible and easier for people with dyspraxia to tell time by combining numbers and colours in straightforward systems.
Games and Aids
Educational and fun activities are always an effective learning tool, and children with dyscalculia respond particularly well to objects and games that make time telling simple and engaging rather than complicated. Our games encourage children to interact with time and numbers outside of the clock and makes learning time fun and engaging for anyone at any age!
Our games make the challenge of telling time rewarding, rather than daunting, and can be enjoyed during family time or playtime. Many children with dyscalculia often feel confused or embarrassed when learning to tell the time, particularly in school, and our games are a low-stakes alternative to tests or worksheets. If you yourself have dyscalculia, then these games will be an effective and fun way to improve your own time telling abilities whilst supporting your child.
Finding the perfect clock
When teaching young children with dyscalculia to tell the time, or interacting with an adult with dyscalculia, the best resource you can use is a positive and patient mindset. Finding a strategy and resources that work for your child will encourage them to tackle new challenges and boost their confidence when it comes to completing other number-related activities.
To find out more about the features and benefits of our EasyRead clocks, or to discover your preferred time teaching method, please click here.
Whether you’re in the classroom teaching time to students or at home trying to help your child or grandchild perfect their time telling skills, games are a great way to aid learning. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when children were restricted to learning at home, games provided a fantastic way to develop new skills and enhance existing ones and this is a principle we hope many parents and teachers will take forward, using teaching time games to make learning fun!
How do games support learning?
There are many ways in which games can help students to learn, so if you are thinking about bringing a fun element to your classroom or home activities, here are a few reasons why they are such a good idea:
Games help to encourage student participation.
Games make learning more engaging as you have to interact to play the game, meaning it’s much less likely someone will get left out or feel disengaged.
Playing a game can motivate children and make them more likely to take risks, such as volunteering an answer they are not sure of and wouldn’t otherwise have offered.
Games can help increase focus and attention, which is particularly useful for children with ADHD.
Participating in games can help children’s attitude towards learning, boost their confidence and improve grades.
With so many advantages to games as part of the learning process, it’s time to look at the resources we offer to support classroom activities or help children to learn whilst having fun at home.
What teaching time games can you play to help children learn?
We’ve got teaching time games covered at home, at school and even at after school clubs and activities, so take a look at our range below:
Tell the time card games
From snap to bingo, matching pairs to buddy-up, there are so many different games you can play with our Tell the Time Card Games, that children will be able to practise their time telling skills without even realising it.
We’ve got two different levels of card games – Level 1 for five to seven year olds and Level 2 aimed at eight to eleven year olds. You can order both packs together or just one of the levels, depending on the age of the children you are buying for.
These card games are very popular with parents and grandparents as fun but educational gifts, and they are also used in schools, after school clubs and children’s activity centres.
Take our TwinTime cards and turn them into teaching time clock games thanks to the movable hands and PVC wipe clean surface. You can count forwards and backwards, learn fractions, count in 5s and 10s, practice displaying the time and writing it down. Student cards come individually or in boxes of 10 and teacher cards are sold separately.
In addition to the resources we sell, here are a few ideas to play some teaching time clock games at home or wherever you can find a few willing participants!
⏰Tie time teaching in with your child’s favourite activity – and get them to create a chart showing what time of day they do each activity.
⏰If you have more than one child, make a human clock with one child lying on the floor being the hour hand and the other being the minute hand.
⏰Set a timer for baking a cake, brushing your teeth or getting dressed and talk about how many minutes you are setting the timer for and how long you have left.
You could also choose to put a time teaching clock in your child’s room or buy them their very own wristwatch, so they can practice telling the time wherever they go. Click here to browse our full range of time teaching clocks, watches and games and make learning engaging, memorable and fun.
Lockdown learning might have been fun the first time round, but the novelty is wearing off. Many parents are weary of homeschooling, and trying to juggle their own workload with supporting children in their learning. With the government announcing recently that it will be at least the second week in March before all children start going back to the classroom, parents need all the help they can get to make home learning easy. EasyRead is here to help – with a range of teaching time games and resources to complement what children are learning through their online lessons.
When will your child learn to tell the time at school?
Of course it will vary from school to school and class to class, but in general, children start learning about the time in Year 1, when they begin telling the time on analogue clocks to the hour and half hour. In Year 2 they will move on to telling the time in smaller increments – using quarter part and quarter to the hour and expressing time by drawing the hands on a clock face. In Key Stage 2, children will move on to telling and writing time in 12 and 24 hours, using roman numerals and comparing time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours, before moving on to digital clocks.
All of the resources and time teaching products at EasyRead have been developed by parents, for parents to help children who are learning to tell the time. They are endorsed by teachers and educational professionals as they support curriculum based learning, but also bring an element of fun – which of course makes the learning easier!
Teaching time games
Our Tell The Time Card Games are popular both at home and in the classroom and bring a competitive element to learning to tell time. You can play snap, bingo or pairs to name but a few, and of course the whole family can join in. Each pack contains 60 playing cards showing 15 different times of the day (4 of the same time), enabling children to have fun matching up and recognising the same time. There are also 2 levels of cards to choose from.
These teaching time games are ideal for use in those ‘free’ lessons where children can choose an educational activity, or for after school fun with the rest of the family.
Our TwinTime Cards have long been a popular teaching resource in schools. Made from high gloss write on wipe off PVC sheets, they enable teachers to configure the clock hands to a certain time and express in 12 and 24 hours or past and to format and for students to convert into the other on their own cards.
Just because children are learning at home and not in the classroom, doesn’t mean you can’t take on the role of teacher and challenge children to write the time and practice their time telling skills.
Make learning a rewarding experience with our Tell the Time Superstar stickers – free with every purchase of our TwinTime Cards this February!
Free resources for teaching time to kids
And for all those parents tearing their hair out over homeschooling, we have a range of free time teaching resources. Here’s EasyRead’s Sue Shackleton explaining how they work:
Helping children master telling the time is a brilliant thing parents can do during the long days at home.
If you’re not a teacher, knowing what to teach your children during home schooling can be baffling. There’s no better time to focus on an important life skill: telling the time.
With schools closed worldwide, parents find themselves thrust into the role of teacher—a role most feel poorly-equipped to inhabit. Most primary schools are advising parents to have fun with their children, try some of the ideas they suggest, but without expecting them to stick to a rigid schedule, make learning fun for everyone. At a time when we’re all struggling to get used to our new normal, parents need learning activities they can understand and feel confident sharing with their children.
Knowing how to tell the time is an important skill that not all children master by the time they leave primary school. In fact, one fifth of young adults struggle to tell the time on an analogue clock, relying on digital devices instead. But it’s no wonder. Teaching time to a class of thirty children with varying needs, strengths and attention spans is complex, and inevitably, curriculum pressures mean it’s time to move on before all children are secure. Most teachers would agree that if they could sit one to one with each child and teach at a pace that suits them, the journey to understanding analogue time would be easier, quicker and far more enjoyable for both student and teacher. Now seems like the perfect opportunity for parents to smooth their children’s time-telling journey.
Here at EasyRead time teacher (ERTT) we have developed a range of clock faces that make telling the time easier for children than using traditional clock faces. Alongside easy-to-read hour numbers, our clocks feature numbers for minutes past and to, as well as clearly-marked halves and quarters. This extra information means children have fewer hurdles to overcome to be successful time-readers. For parents, who may not have taught time before, having a clock that makes explaining analogue time easier is welcome.
ERTT’s three-step method makes things even easier: read the number at the end of the long hand, check whether it falls on the minutes past or to side, read the number at the end of the short hand. Job done. It’s not how time is traditionally taught but removing some of the obstacles means children get to the good bit faster and can build up their concepts from a position of accomplishment.
We are sharing some free resources for parents and children to use while schools are closed. Our clock face pdf can be printed out, stuck on card and sticky-tacked to a wall. Referring to the clock little and often will give children a regular learning experience that will help build competence and confidence. We are also sharing ideas on our social media channels for how parents can use their clock to boost their children’s time-telling skills. Every little helps and we hope this will be just what parents need with all this ‘time on their hands’!
