Kids' Hangout

Tick Tock the Clock

Teaches a young child how to read time. Download the executable and double-click it to begin. Click and drag a hand to move it; the other hand moves accordingly. The hour hand moves in increments of 60, 30, 15, 10, 5 or 1 minute, depending on settings. When the minute hand is dragged, it moves in 1 minute increments.

For the child's first lesson in time, you might use the 60 minute interval. Grab the hour hand and move it to 12 o' clock, 1, 2, etc.

When the child is ready for the next level (at least a few months later), grab the minute hand and spin it around, showing how it takes one complete sweep of the minute hand to move the hour hand from one hour to the next.

Next level: move the minute hand 30 minutes, showing that the hour hand sweeps halfway to the next hour. You could also set a 30-minute interval and move the hour hand; but the child will find that more difficult to follow.

Before demonstrating the 15 minute level, the child should be introduced to elementary fractions (half and quarter), ideally using circular pies.

From the Settings tab you can disable the textual time display. Then you can test the child's ability to read time.

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