Contents
Introduction
Learning to read and tell time is important and a must skill for all. It can help you to regulate control of your life and determine whether you are running late or have time to spare. You can now teach your kid to read the clock using various methods. #teachYourKidToReadTheClock
It is also important that you understand the concept between different time zones and international times as well, by looking at a traditional clock.
Many Educators are of the opinion that, the earlier age a child is taught to read the clock, the higher chance of helping the child evolve superior motor and cognitive aptitudes. In addition, this helps in their mathematical skill and also helps to develop better social skills amongst their peer group. In most cases, children should be able to start telling time when they reach the ages of five or six. However, the younger children might have difficulty due to lack of basic mathematics skills around that age.
Teaching a child how to read the clock for the first time is always a tricky situation especially if you are a parent or teacher. However, you can try making the lesson like a fun activity. Try letting them learn the basics first by using a paper clock.
You can start by drawing the clock on a piece of paper followed by teaching them the different blocks of time. As a child’s brain develops, so will their intellect growth. This will make them understand simple concepts that were once too advanced for them. The same goes for reading the clock as well.
What can I do on my part, to help teach my kid read the clock?
As a parent, the first thing you can do is, to not lose patience when your children don’t learn it at your pace. It is important to understand that, your child’s intellect level may either develop faster or slower than that of their same-age group children. Therefore, the child may either take time to learn or get it done earlier than you anticipated.
Teaching Your Child how to read is not an easy task, however, with the right methods and equipment, you can help your child read absolutely anything. You can add these simple easy to understand steps below in your lessons to help your child read the clock at a faster rate.
Begin With The Basic Concepts
First things first, as humans, to learn any new skill, the first thing we do is, learn the basics. Here, you can begin by familiarizing your child with the general time concepts of morning, noon, evening and night time. Knowing these concepts will help you teach your kid to develop a faster pace in learning to read the clock and tell the times apart. You can also make it more fun by making a visual chart of all the activities you do with your child in a day from morning till night time. You may paste it in the playroom, kitchen, or whichever room the child frequent uses or plays in.
Doing Creative Art Together
Here, creative art as in, making handmade clock with paper plates. Involving your child in the entire process of the activity will help the child enhance their creativity. And, it will also help in getting the hang of it at a faster pace. You can explain the working of the clock as you create the clock together. And after you finished making the paper plate clock, keep it in a table or somewhere visible to the eye. This way, your child can look at it and replay the event and teachings of the activity done together. #teachChildToReadTheClock
Counting Numbers To Teach Your Kid To Read The Clock
As the saying goes, ‘before they run, they have to walk’. Similarly, before a child could learn to read the clock, he has to first learn how to count the numbers, preferably till 60 at the very least. As parents and teachers, you can help the child learn to count numbers by using various support. For example, chart, recitation, reading to them, or helping them to write in their books, etc.
Once the child has learned till 60, you can now teach them to count to 60 by fives. You can also teach children to tell and write with the practice counting by 5s.
However, note that, this method i.e. teaching the child to count to 60 by fives after it could count the numbers till 60, is only to teach your kid to read the clock. Therefore, you can keep teaching the numbers beyond 60 for further education.
Connect The Usage Of Time To Their Daily Routine
As your child continues to learn about time, it is important that you keep connecting time to their daily routine. For example, asking them what time they have to go to bed and allowing them to show the time in the model clock. You can try doing this method a few times, everyday. When kids understand the concept of morning afternoon, evening and night, it is much easier for kids to tell time and to be able to read time.
You can also try clock quizzing activity with sweets reward at the end, every alternate day for better results. As children, they are bound to have fun and try to be competitive about it as well. This will motivate the child to learn better and faster. #ReadTheClock
Adopting recreational methods
Another fun way to teach your kid to read the clock is, by adopting recreational methods. Say for example, search up interesting videos in the internet specifically made for children, on topics related to times and clock. You can also browse mathematical books in the bookstores designed for kids. Teaching children to tell the time by using other creative ideas such as poems for kids or other activities can help them learn faster. #telltime
And in this modern age and time where technology is very advanced even amongst the children, more and more kids are obsessively into mobile games as such.
However, you can use this platform to your advantage by downloading or installing games related to telling time games. An example of this type of gaming is, talking time with Kat, which is a famous game amongst children who are just learning the basics of clock. In this game, Kat the cat helps to teach the kid learn to tell time using an analog clock.
Use Analog and Digital Clocks In Your House
Try using either Analog or Digital clocks or both, in your house, specifically in your child’s room. These two clocks are easy to read and this will help your child to grasp the concepts of time and clock very quickly. #teachYourChildTotellTime
Analog clock comes with a simple guide that shows how to read the clock with hands. Therefore, it is also known as clock hands and it is also pretty reliable and easy to estimate elapsed time. Digital clock on the other hand is also easy to read and is often well lit to even use in the dark. Once you teach time to your children, they can eat breakfast in time and get ready for the bus on time too.
Practice The Use Of Hour Hand And Minute Hand
Before starting to teach your child or kid about the two hands of hour and minute, always begin with the hour hand of the clock first. This will be easier for the child to grasp this concept of learning and relate the number to an hour clocks of the day. You can also teach your child to tell time using a 24hour clock. For these you can draw or practice by moving the hands of the clock.
You can first demonstrate a few times on how to read the hour hand in the clock. And, as they start to pick it up, you can ask them to show you by themselves on the clock. Meanwhile, on the other hand, minute hand is a little more difficult concept for the children to understand in the initial stage of their learning. You can start by explaining to your child that. This is because there are 60 minutes in an hour, 1 means 5 and 9 means 45.
However, this can make some kids really frustrated, especially for a child who lacks mathematical skills. To make it easier, you can draw the number of minutes around the clock so that; the kids can use them for reference in case they forget again.
Conclusion
Having mentioned the above points, as your child learns this important skill of the time-telling process, they are either going to enjoy and have fun with it or starts to dislike maths even more, nevertheless, that’s the beauty of learning. Regardless of whether they liked or hated it, they are still going to have to be able to learn it.
And as the child slowly builds confidence around the clock, encourage and motivate them when they make mistakes. And, continue to practice with them regularly until they could read the clock like they own it. Also, as the saying goes, ‘all good things take time’. So, as parents, keep your head cool even when your patience is being tested. Enjoy this journey together with your child.
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