Telling the Time Teaching Resources
Browse telling the time worksheets, clock games and templates and more teacher-created resources to help your students learn how to read digital and analogue clocks.
Aligned with Australian maths curriculum standards, this collection is stocked with everything you need to build lesson plans that engage your students and make it fun to learn all about how we tell time. Each resource has undergone careful review by a member of our teacher team to ensure it's ready for your classroom and your students!
New to teaching students how to tell time or just looking for some fresh ideas? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a look at whether or not kids should learn to read analogue clocks and some of our teacher team's favourite activities and tips for teaching kids to tell what time it is.
What Is 'Telling Time?' A Kid-Friendly Definition
Your students have likely heard people talk about time countless ... well ... times in their young lives. Still, it can be helpful to kick off your time-telling unit with an explanation of what it actually means to tell time.
Here's one from our teacher team that's just for kids:
Telling time is understanding what the clock is showing us so that we know what time it is.
Teaching Time With Analogue Clocks vs. Digital Clocks — Which Is Better?
Maybe you have an analogue clock in your classroom ... then again, your students may have never even seen an analog clock! So, do you really need to teach students how to read one?
The answer is yes!
Kids should certainly learn how to tell digital time. But even as cellphone clocks and digital watches have become ubiquitous, knowing how to read an 'old-fashioned' analogue clock remains an important skill and a standard in the Australian curriculum!
Benefits of Reading Analogue Clocks
There are myriad benefits to this, and not just because it ensures kids will be able to tell time if they're in a situation where the only clock available sports hour and minute hands.
- Counting by 5s — as you do when reading an analogue clock — is a skill that will help students when they begin to learn multiplication.
- Analogue clocks reinforce the concept of a difference between two numbers.
- Traditional clocks help our students grapple with the concept of elapsed time as they provide a visual representation.
5 Parts of an Analog Clock to Teach Your Students
Teaching students how to read a clock typically begins by teaching kids about the different parts of a clock — from the face to the various hands. Here are the four main parts of an analog clock or watch:
1. Clock Face
The 'face' of a clock is the area that is marked with numbers and sometimes marked with small lines to represent the minutes.
2. Numbers
Most clocks and watches are marked with numbers that represent the hours. The space between them is divided into minutes.
3. Hour Hand
Most clocks have at least two 'hands' on the face. The hour hand is the shortest and thickest hand, and it points to the hour.
4. Minute Hand
The minute hand on most clocks or watches is the part that points to the minutes. It is longer than the hour hand, and it is thicker than the second hand.
5. Second Hand
Some — but not all — clocks and watches featured a thin third hand. Just as the name implies, the second hand is the hand that points to the seconds.
How to Teach Kids to Tell the Time — Activity Ideas for Your Classroom
Looking for more tips on teaching kids to tell time? Our teacher team has stocked this collection with plenty of resources to help kids learn the difference between a minute and an hour, how to use a.m. and p.m. and more, but we didn't stop there!
Here are a few favourite activities and tips that you might want to try in your classroom!
- Build telling time into your classroom routines. For example, you might say, 'We have 20 minutes to do this. What time will it be when we're done?' or 'We will have tea at 11:40. Where will the hands of the clock be?"
- Give your students plenty of practise with writing the time by making it part of your daily maths warm-up.
- When you provide times for upcoming events, don't just provide the literal time but also what it would look like on the clock. For example, 'In 15 minutes, when the hour hand is on the 1 and the minute hand is on the 7, we will line up for recess.'
- Hang two clocks in your classroom to make a two-step process out of learning to tell time. One clock can display the hour hand, while the other displays the minute hand!
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Time to 5 Minutes - Digital Learning Activity
Review how to tell time to the nearest five minutes with an independent Telling Time Digital Learning Activity.
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Following Directions Worksheets - Reading a Clock Review
Practise telling time to the half-hour, quarter-hour, and five-minute mark with a pack of printable Following Directions to Tell the Time worksheets.
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Months of the Year Worksheets
Read, write, and spell the months of the year with a set of printable Months of the Year worksheets for early years.
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What Does the Clock Say? - Telling the Time Game
Solve the math riddles and read analogue clocks with a fun Time to 5 Minute Telling Time Game.
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Parts of a Clock Anchor Chart
Familiarise students with the analogue clock face, hands and other parts of a clock with a printable poster created for the primary classroom.
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Telling the Time Clock Template
Start telling time to the nearest five-minute increment with a hands-on printable clock template.
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Year 3 Telling Time Game
Practise representing time to the minute on analog clocks, digital clocks, and word form with this Year 4 telling time board game.
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Time to the Minute and Elapsed Time – Teaching PowerPoint
Teach telling the time to the nearest minute and calculate elapsed time with this 18-slide PowerPoint for teachers.
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12 Hour Clock Template
A template for an interactive 12 hour clock that displays hours, minutes and wording.
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Time Dominoes - Half, Quarter and Hour Intervals
Practise telling the time to the nearest hour, quarter-hour, or half-hour by matching 32 analog and digital clock dominoes.
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Clock Worksheet Cut and Paste– 5-Minute Intervals
Use a clock worksheet to cut, paste and build a clock with five minute increments.
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Telling Time Test - Nearest 5 Minutes
Assess your student's abilities to tell time to the nearest five minutes with a printable telling time assessment.
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Telling Time Task Cards - Hour & Half-Hour
Practise telling time to the hour and half hour with a set of printable Telling Time Task Cards.
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Four in a Row - Tell the Time Clock Game -Hour and Half Hour
Play a Four in a Row Telling Time Game to demonstrate the ability to tell time to the nearest hour and half hour.
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Time to 5 Minutes - Google Slides Game
Practise telling time to the nearest five minutes with an engaging Telling Time Mystery Picture Game!
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Time to the Minute Quiz - Year 3
Practise telling time to the minute with an engaging Year 3 Telling Time Quiz game.
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Time to the Minute Poke Cards
Practise reading analogue clocks and telling time to the minute with this set of self-checking poke cards.
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Time to the Hour and Half Hour Match-Up
Match cards with three different representations of time to practise reading clocks and time in their written form.
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Roll and Cover – Telling Time to the Minute
Practise telling to the minute with this roll and cover game
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Telling Time to the Nearest Five Minutes – Interactive Activities
Read different clock faces to the nearest 5 minutes with two difficulty levels for varied abilities.
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Colour By Code Worksheet- Time to 5 Minutes
Practise telling time to the nearest five minutes with a fun Colour By Code worksheet.
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AM or PM? Year 4 Time Game
Differentiate between events that occur in A.M. and P.M. times with an interactive self-checking maths game.
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What Can You Do? Year 1 Estimating Time Printables
Help your students understand time increments with a pair of cut-and-paste maths worksheets for year 1.
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Telling Time Printable Games for Year 2
Help your students learn to tell time to the 5 minutes with this set of 6 printable Telling the Time games.
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Year 4 AM & PM Teaching Slides
Teach your students the difference between AM and PM time with an engaging teaching presentation.
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Estimate the Time - Maths Worksheets for Year 1
Help your students understand and estimate time in seconds and minutes with a trio of Time Estimation maths sheets for year 1.
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Telling Time to the Minute – Kaboom Game
Practise telling time to the minute with an exciting game of Telling Time Kaboom!
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Telling the Time - Clocks to 5 Minutes Task Cards
Practise reading clocks to determine the time to the nearest 5 minutes with a set of telling time task cards.
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Task Cards - A.M. and P.M. Time
Help your students tell A.M. times from P.M. times with a set of 24 A.M./P.M. task cards.
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Day and Night Sorting Activity
Help your prep students understand and apply the concepts of day and night with this fun sorting activity.
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Hunt & Find - Telling Time Clock Game
Tell time to the nearest minute with a Tell the Time Clock Game for Year 3.
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Telling the Time Year 2 Tarsia Puzzle
Solve the tarsia puzzle and practise matching digital times with their corresponding word forms.