DIY clock craft for kindergarten. DIY educational cardboard clock

When a child turns 4-5 years old, he begins to take an active interest in the lives of adults and ask various questions. This is the most suitable age to teach your baby the concept of time. ? Children's watches are a great way to master it, especially if you make them together with mom or dad, explaining their purpose and rules of use to the baby during the manufacturing process. We invite you to familiarize yourself with several simple master classes on how to make a children's watch out of cardboard with your own hands.

Craft “Clock made of cardboard”

A preschooler can make a homemade toy clock out of cardboard with the ability to move the hands himself. By studying them during the game, he will easily learn this science.

Cut out two circles from thick cardboard of different colors. You can use compasses or large plates for this.
Now you need to cut out the hands of the clock (use cardboard in a contrasting color) and, if desired, the edging for the base sheet on which the clock will be glued. The base is needed for the strength of the product.
Place the smaller circle in the center of the larger one.
Then glue the watch blank onto a white sheet of cardboard (it is advisable to use thicker material).
Secure the clock hands with a bolt in the center of the circle so that both of them move well around the center.
Glue on the border.
Indicate the time on the clock with numbers. To begin with, you can introduce your child only to the clock (from 1 to 12), and when he masters this, then to the minutes. The inscriptions should be made along the edge of the outer, large circle.
Let your child decorate his first watch with stickers or other decorative elements.

Cardboard clock for children

This kind of clock can be made from cardboard, bright colored lids and a clock mechanism.
Prepare a sheet of corrugated cardboard (for example, from a box or crate).
Place 13 multi-colored lids from vitamins, yogurt, etc. (you can replace them with large buttons) in a circle. Estimate what the diameter of the future watch should be.
Cut out a circle from cardboard - the base of the clock and, using a corner ruler, mark on it the locations of the covers.
Using a hot glue gun, glue the lids at an equal distance from the center and from each other.
Use a black marker to trace and color the edges of the circle.
Now make a hole exactly in the center of the circle (corrugated cardboard can be easily pierced with a pencil).
Install the clock mechanism and screw in the hands. Glue a cardboard circle with a number in the center of each cap.
Insert the battery into the clock and set the time.

Hello! Remember, as you taught your little ones about time, that it can be measured using seconds, minutes, etc.; and that there is a special device for this. Or perhaps you still have to tell your little ones about all this? Then I will suggest one very effective method. Together we need to make a clock with our own hands for children from cardboard. You can devote your work time to telling a story about short seconds, minutes rushing forward, and such huge hours that seem to last forever, especially for kids. And creative work will not remain without a trace, the little ones develop by doing it.

Ideas

What to hide For a modern person, no matter how big or small, the wrapper is important. Even the same candy may seem tastier if it is wrapped in a candy wrapper with your favorite movie character, rather than in parchment. Therefore, the learning process should be packaged in a beautiful wrapper: use your favorite Lego men, cars, stickers, prints of super heroes, everything that your child likes, that he is willing to look at for hours, and that he is even willing to sleep with.

Or even make it in the form of a wrist bracelet; I think kids will also appreciate this option.

Regarding the teaching system, choose the one that you think is more understandable to your child and which you can teach “without stuttering.” Some people make watches like real ones without minutes, others hide the minutes under a leaf so they can “peep.” Someone, on the contrary, makes a double dial, where both the hours and minutes are clearly visible, and even the hands move in their own circle, clearly pointing to the number. And someone makes a clock with the task of sticking the corresponding number of minutes on Velcro, and even below you can put in separate numbers what happened (for example, 10:30). Of course, it is more convenient to make such watches with Velcro from felt, although Velcro can also be glued onto cardboard. The main idea!

Or you can improve your regular home clock by sticking minutes in a circle for quick learning.

In a word, what are we still talking about? It's time to get down to business! We have a universal, basic master class coming up that you can take as a basis for your idea.

Step-by-step instructions for making a clock from cardboard

Now we will try together do under the tree. But first, just a few words about the tools we will use to make, and the children’s possible help.

A few important points:

We have to cut out blanks from paper, and for this we will need sharp scissors. If you have scissors with rounded edges, then this part of the work can be entrusted to the baby. Otherwise, it’s better, or rather safer, to do it yourself.
To fasten the arrows on the structure, we again need a sharp object: either nail scissors with sharp edges, or a nail. Only 3 holes. But safety is more important. If the baby asks, of course, you can entrust the work, but only with your safety net.
Decide how strong the structure you plan to make. Perhaps one sheet of cardboard will not be enough. Then use a base. A layer of thick packaging cardboard, or a few additional regular balls, will serve as the base.
The last thing is how you will draw, or rather, with what. If you use a compass, then you already have the middle marked, and that’s good. But it is dangerous because of the sharp edge. You can draw it by tracing a plate, cup or bowl around the counter. In this case, we determine the middle using two perpendicular lines. Or, even simpler, bend one of the circles (preferably not the very first one, in order to maintain its attractive appearance) in half twice. The bend point is the middle.

Now we are completely ready! Forward!

Hours and minutes - MK

A cork round hot stand was chosen as the basis for the watch. But you can get by with corrugated cardboard.

Step-by-step photos of production:

Printable templates - enlarge by click

It is not so easy to teach a child to understand time by a clock. But it needs to be done. To make it interesting for your child during such activities, make a visual aid with him - a clock made of cardboard. Invite your child to make arrows with his own hands and write numbers. Believe me, your child will enjoy playing with such an educational toy. The master class proposed in this article will tell you how to make a clock out of cardboard to teach children the concept of time.

Materials and tools

To work on making a fake watch you will need:

thick cardboard in three colors;
a compass or two plates;
scissors;
pencil;
bolt with nut;
PVA glue;
markers;
decorative elements.

How to make a clock out of cardboard: process description

On sheets of cardboard of different colors, use a compass to draw two circles (or circle two plates). The second part should be slightly smaller than the first. Cut them out and stick one on top of the other. Try to ensure that the centers of both circles coincide.
Draw arrows of the desired shape on the cardboard and cut them out. If the cardboard is not very thick, then glue it together in half. It is important that this watch part is durable.
Glue a round blank onto a whole sheet of rectangular cardboard. Place something flat and hard on it and leave it to dry. This is necessary so that the product does not deform from the moisture provided by the glue.
Punch a hole in the center of the circle, and make the same holes on the arrows. Using a small bolt and nut, attach the arrows to the base of the product.
Using markers, write the numbers 1 through 12 along the edge of the outer circle. In the future, when the child learns to understand time using these symbols, you can add values from 13 to 24 on the side.
Decorate the product the way your little Know-It-All wishes. These can be stickers, drawings, applique.

So now you know how to make a clock out of cardboard. This version of the product is perhaps the simplest and most affordable. With older children you can perform a different model.

An interesting idea: how to make a clock from cardboard, and not only from cardboard?

Your child will really like this fake watch with a real mechanism. He will be able to move the hands and set the time independently. To make such a product you will need the following materials:

corrugated cardboard;
with arrows;
plastic caps (from bottles, jars of vitamins, gouache paint boxes) - 12 pieces;
glue gun;
scissors;
pencil.

Step-by-step instructions: how to make a clock out of cardboard

Cut out a large circle from cardboard.
Place the lids at approximately the same distance from each other and glue them using a heat gun.
Punch a hole in the center of the product. This can easily be done with a pencil, since corrugated cardboard can be pierced without difficulty.
Install the arrows on the inside and on the outside.
Write a number on each lid with a marker or stick it on paper.

That's all. The clock is ready. If the mechanism is working, then such a dummy can even show the time correctly and serve not only as an educational toy, but also as an ordinary wall clock in a children's room.

If you have children growing up in your house, be sure to take note of our master class “How to make a clock out of cardboard.” Kids will be more likely to enjoy playing with a home-made item rather than an industrial watch. Have fun and fruitful activities!

Marina Suzdaleva

The concept of time is quite abstract and difficult to understand in childhood. It is difficult for kids to understand how seconds add up to minutes, hours, days, and those, in turn, add up to weeks, months, years and centuries. That is why, to simplify the task and make it more clear, passionate mothers make various educational aids, posters, calendars, sensory boxes and watches for their children with their own hands.

On the eve of the start of the new game course “”, the Club of Passionate Mothers is holding a competition of manuals and crafts on the theme “Time”. All the submitted works are very interesting, and I am sure that among them you will find an inspiring idea for creating your own educational manual.

“Seasons” spread in an educational book

The summer travel period is approaching, so we are developing sketches of the pages of our first educational book, which will be very useful on the road. So I decided that one spread would be dedicated to the seasons.

The idea of creation is a tree that changes its “outfit” depending on. A little hint in the color of the name of the season. And all the letters and “outfits” are in a bag next to it on the page.

To make educational book pages we need:

Different fabric. For the page itself - cotton, for the wood - brown fabric (felt, leather, etc.), for all details - hard felt of various colors;
A brown wavy ribbon that we will sew onto a tree trunk;
Blue threads with which we will embroider snowflakes;
Velcro that holds the tree decorations and the names of the seasons.

Process of creation:

We cut out a tree trunk. We attach the ribbons;
We cut out all the details from felt in duplicate; We sew the hard part of the Velcro onto one part of the part, then sew it to the second part;
We sew the soft part of the Velcro onto the page itself, where we want to place foliage and flowers;
On the other page of the spread we also sew soft Velcro, onto which we will attach the name of the seasons;
We sew on a bag in which we will store the “outfits” and letters.”

The work is ready!

Gavrilov's mother Faina and daughter Taisiya, 1 year old. 2 months, Arkhangelsk.

To participate in the competition, I made a “Time Cube”, each face of which reveals a certain characteristic of time. To create the cube, I needed a diaper box, which I covered on all sides with white self-adhesive paper.

The first face is the clock

I took a wooden dial that I had. The picture in the middle was covered with white self-adhesive paper to match the concept of the cube. I pasted the dial on double-sided tape. On this edge you can study time; there is an hour and minute hand.

The second facet is the time of year

I cut out color pictures from the available manual - the crowns of 4 trees and 6 pictures each characterizing a certain time of year. I pasted the pictures onto cardboard, laminated them with tape, cut them out and attached Velcro to the back. In the same way, I printed and made 4 inscriptions of the seasons.

On the edge, I glued a tree trunk with brown self-adhesive paper, placed Velcro for the tree crown, six pictures and the inscription of the season. First, we show the child how the tree crown changes depending on the time of year and what events occur in nature.

When the child remembers what characterizes this or that season, you can give him the task of designing autumn, summer, and so on.

Third facet – days of the week

I pasted numbers in the order of the days of the week vertically, and colored rectangles with rounded corners and the names of the days of the week horizontally. The rectangles are pasted in the colors of the rainbow. The main idea of this face is that each rectangle is 1 unit larger than the next (for me it is 2 cm), i.e. Monday - 2 cm, Sunday - 14 cm. The edge was made by analogy with Cuisenaire sticks.

On this side we study the sequence of days of the week from 1 to 7, we tell that the week consists of 7 days. At the same time, you can study counting and the composition of numbers.

For example, a week consists of 7 days - you can take a 2 cm rectangle and measure how many times it fits into the purple rectangle (it turns out 7 times - 7 days). It can be explained that if you add one day to Monday, you get Tuesday, i.e. 1 rectangle + 1 rectangle = two 2 cm rectangles. You can also study the colors of the rainbow.

Next to each edge I glued a piece of Velcro so that my daughter could attach the animal to the desired day of the week. For example, today is Thursday, let’s put the squirrel on Thursday, etc.

The fourth side is the month and day of the month

I took an empty cardboard candy box, cut a rectangle so that the picture was visible, and made a hole on top to insert the picture. I covered the box on all sides with white self-adhesive paper and glued it to the edge. The result is a solid pocket. I printed out a picture with the name of the month and the event that characterizes it, glued the picture to cardboard, and made a small handle out of cardboard to make it easy to take out the picture.

As a picture, you can use your own drawings, applications, photographs with memorable events so that the child develops an association with a particular month. For example, April 14 is your birthday, insert a photo of a tree into your pocket, or a photo of a decorated Christmas tree in December, etc. I looked at the cube, and it’s clear what event is today and, accordingly, what month it is.

For the day of the month, I printed out the numbers from 0 to 9, 1 and 2 (11,22) on colored paper, glued them onto cardboard, laminated them with tape, and cut them out. I glued a piece of magnetic tape to the edge, and glued a piece of magnetic tape to each number. Thus, every day we attach the number we need to the magnet.

The fifth side was decorated with a clock and butterflies. Time, like butterflies, is fleeting... it flies unnoticed... you don’t have time to catch it... Let’s enjoy today’s moment, live in the present... while the butterfly sits on the palm and does not fly away...

Olga Antonenko and daughter Olesya 1 year 6 months. Yaroslavl.

Educational book on the topic “Time”

With the birth of my daughter, I became interested in sewing. Over time, my books became not only a simulator for the development of fine motor skills, but also guides on various topics. And one of my friends asked me to sew a book for her son so that he could learn to tell time. I admit, the task was difficult. Firstly, I have not yet gone through the watch with my daughter; for me this was a completely new topic. On the other hand, we had to collect material for seven pages and a cover.

As a result, it was decided to talk about the seasons, time of day, hours and daily routine.

The first page is a spring morning, then a summer day, an autumn evening and a winter night. Each page contains many small details that indicate to us the time of year or time of day. For example, white snow, smoke from a chimney, snow-covered trees tell us that it is winter. And the stars, the moon, the dark sky and the animal sleeping under the tree indicate that it is night. There are a lot of secrets and moving elements on these pages; unfortunately, the photo doesn’t convey everything.

The included little finger bunny sleeps in the crib, washes himself, has breakfast/lunch/dinner, plays in his room, walks on the playground and takes a bath in the bathroom. All these actions can be accompanied by moving the arrows to the corresponding values.

Train "Seasons"

My second work, this time for my daughter, but here we study only the seasons. The idea is not mine, I picked it up from the Myakishi company. It turned out to be carrying 3 trailers. Each trailer has its own color and they are all specially decorated because they symbolize the seasons. Winter - blue - Christmas tree, snowflake. Spring - green - tulip, sun. Summer - yellow - strawberry, butterfly. Autumn - red - acorn and yellow leaf.

The trailers are connected to each other with hooks, can be detached and assembled in any order. They are attached to the book itself with magnets, and the rails are made in the form of lacing; the lace-rail is threaded through sleeper loops.

We really like the little train, because we like all locomotives in general, and it seems to me that it absolutely unobtrusively reinforces the child’s understanding of the seasons.

Anna Ivanova and daughter Mashenka, 2 years 6 months, Moscow region.

Calendar

To get acquainted with time, I made a calendar and the game “Hour Lotto” with my daughter. But since the manuals were not made now, there are no photos of the process. Alice drew the calendar, I helped her a little and printed out the names of the months and days of the week.

We have a book about the months and seasons, there are wonderful poems there! And of course, we discuss on walks: what time of year, what makes it special, what month, what signs each month has. The names are all confused for now, but whose daughter knows exactly when! We learned a little poem about the days of the week:

Tell us, animals,
How to remember the days of the week?
First-Monday -
Handicraft bunny!
Tuesday comes for him -
The nightingale is a perky one.
After Tuesday is Wednesday,
Fox food.
After Wednesday is Thursday -
The wolf's eyes sparkled.
After Thursday comes Friday
It will roll like a bun.
After Friday is Saturday,
Bathhouse at the raccoon.
After Saturday - Sunday,
We have fun all day long.

On the titles we made small illustrations corresponding to the rhyme. Why small you ask? Because my daughter loves to look for everything small and play with miniature characters! Now every morning we change the name of the day of the week. And once a month is the name of the month.

Tired of the mess in your nursery? Tired of endlessly collecting toys for your child?

Game "Hour Lotto"

Made with my daughter to study time game "Hour Lotto". We turn the arrows one by one and guess what time we need to find. We are currently looking for a full hour and a half hour. Minutes are still difficult. The manual can be easily disassembled and put into a bag, and putting a mini card with a number on a toothpick trains fine motor skills.

Anastasia and daughters Alisa 3 years old. 6 months and Vera 6 months. Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk.

Why watches? As our son Arseny said: “...knowing the time is more important, because we always look at the clock, but I don’t have my own watch yet. And I’ll remember the days of the week anyway.” That's how this educational craft came into being - a do-it-yourself toy.

Arseny made the watch together with his dad. He offered materials for production, helped, whenever possible, to stick numbers on the dial, fasten parts, monitored production and gave advice.

To make the watch you needed:

for dial: lid from a box with shoes in the shape of a square;
for arrows: plastic fork and spoon (there was an option of cut out arrows from cardboard, ice cream sticks and medical wooden spatulas);
for numbers: corrugated cardboard (there was an option to make numbers from sticks, plasticine, matches, sand sprinkled on PVA glue or adhesive tape, draw with a marker, glue the remaining numbers without magnets from a set of letters and numbers);
for fastening parts: cap from a bottle of sparkling water, a bolt and a nut from a metal constructor.

When they finished the craft, Arseny suddenly sang a song from “The Fixies”: “The clock goes, the clock goes, the clock takes care of the minutes.” That's it, personal time has started!

Arseny Zinoviev, 5 years old, Shushenskoye village, Krasnoyarsk region, father Andrey Aleksandrovich Zinoviev and mother Zhanna Vladimirovna Zinovieva.

Wall panels, clocks and posters

We have wall panels and small posters that help the child generalize and master time concepts.

The manual was prepared five years ago for my eldest daughter. Over time, it was replenished with new posters and now we use it in games with our youngest daughter.

At first, the main goal was to teach my daughter to navigate the days of the week, so that she would know when the weekend or other days of the week with events planned for them come. Next, it was necessary to study all the concepts of time, which is not so easy.

The panel is divided into four parts horizontally and two vertically:

celestial part(top) shows the change in time of day (morning - afternoon - evening - night);
earthly part(bottom) shows the change of seasons (spring - summer - autumn - winter).

It goes through the whole panel little train "Week". Each trailer is a pocket of a certain color. Numbers and names according to the days of the week and colors of the rainbow.

Later small posters appeared:

diagram of the earth's rotation around the sun to study time concepts: year, month, season;
clock with rotating hands, helping to navigate the time of day (the outer circle is a minute scale, the inner circle is two hour scales);
plate with roman numerals for the eldest daughter.

How to play with panels and posters?

We look at the panels, discuss the signs of the seasons and days, tell rhymes or rhymes about the colors of the rainbow and the days of the week.
We are preparing a cardboard toy (we draw it ourselves or cut it out of a magazine) that will travel on the “Weekly” train and tell us in the morning what day of the week it is. For us, this is a baby koala - Kolya.
Every morning we transfer Kolya to the next carriage, which corresponds to today’s day of the week, discuss what kind of day it is (what is it called, what is the number, what interesting things awaits us on this day, what was it like yesterday, what will it be like tomorrow, etc.) .
You can put notes in the trailers, where it will be drawn or written that wonderful things will happen on this day, i.e. On Sunday evening you can schedule upcoming events for the whole week (weekly).

It is very funny! With such a panel you can quickly and unobtrusively remember the days of the week, and the child.

With the watch we come up with different games with tasks (we study the structure of a watch dial, the concepts of noon, midnight, quarter hour, etc.).

Making panels with posters is quick and easy. Any parent can do it.

Necessary materials: colored and white cardboard, colored paper, paints, glue, scissors, various magazine clippings, a little drawing skill and your imagination. The clock hands need a small screw and nut to allow them to rotate.

That's all! You can play fun and usefully!

Irina Brusyantseva and daughters Lera (9 years old) and Rita (3.5 years old), Orenburg.

Sensory box “Seasons”

Our work is “Seasons”, which was made to introduce a child to the seasons. It consists of four separate boxes - quarters of a circle. Each part represents a specific time of year and has corresponding content:

U winter— filled with artificial snow made of polyethylene, confetti in the form of snowflakes and foam balls (snowballs). In addition - toy skis, skates, a snowman and a piece of plastic ice;
Spring– light green colored rice. Glass balls resemble water, and pebbles resemble earth, not yet covered with grass. Addition - snowdrop flowers and birds returning from warmer climes;
Summer– dark green vermicelli is grass, butterflies and ladybugs of different sizes, dragonflies, bees, caterpillars, strawberries, flowers;
Autumn- peas, dried rose hips, acorns, hazelnuts and walnuts, cedar and pine cones, plum and apricot pits, wooden lacing toys - apples, pears and mushrooms.

Seasonal animals are attached to the edges of the inside of the boxes, and the names and symbols of the months are attached to the outside. We mark the current month with a small clothespin along the edge of the box.

We placed a tree in the center between the boxes. It is glued together from four cardboard blanks, and each part is decorated with an applique:

Winter- made of cotton pads and snowflakes, supplemented with a matchbox feeder;
For spring, we used the quilling technique and a set of rhinestones, a nest of threads was glued to the bottom;
Summer, decorated with leaves made of pumpkin seeds and apples made of foam balls, painted with acrylic paints.
Autumn decorated with crumpled colored paper balls.

My daughter made the appliqués herself with a little help from me. Unfortunately, there are no photographs of the manufacturing process, since the work was done a little before the competition.

For a month since its manufacture, this has been our most popular toy. We play themed games. My daughter rummages through boxes several times a day. Plays with birds, puts them in a bird feeder and nest, and feeds them grass. Collects apples and mushrooms for the hedgehog and nuts for the squirrels. Puts dolls on skates and skis. Looks for insects and flowers of different colors. He especially loves choosing glass marbles from boxes, counting how many he found, then looking for more and adding more - we develop mathematical skills.

We are developing thinking - please tell your daughter about the signs of each season, using boxes as an example. She already knows the names of the months and their sequence very well. I also placed the tree with the summer side facing the winter box and we discussed when and where this happens (greenhouses, winter gardens, the southern and northern hemispheres of the earth).

Irina Patrusheva and daughter Lera, Belogorsk, Amur region.

I made a felt calendar half a year ago for my youngest daughter, who is now 4.5 years old. We live in France, here in stores there are a lot of different manuals and calendars made of fabric, cardboard and other materials. I bought some of them, but for some reason they turned out to be completely unsuitable, my daughter didn’t understand it at all, the goal was not achieved.

Then I came up with my own. I simply displayed on fabric the abstract vision of time that I have. I placed most of the concepts on the calendar:

year, seasons, months;
weather;
days of the week (as in the old Soviet diary), Saturday and Sunday - in a separate color;
the concept of day and night - cyclicality,
4 main parts of the day.

The child had difficulty understanding one day. For her, the morning before nap was one day, and after nap and before night was another. I approximately visually displayed for the child the duration of the day, night and part of the day. On the calendar it is clear that from the beginning of the morning to the end of the evening is the same amount of time as the night lasts. We know that in reality everything is not entirely true, but for this age this explanation will be the most optimal.

And most importantly, I posted all the main 30/31 days of the month at once. Separately - each ten in rows (visual display of the first three tens, mathematics in action), and the 31st day - in a separate color.

Unlike ready-made materials, I sewed all these days, and did not make them with Velcro (Velcro fall off all the time, and for me the main thing was that the child could see the whole month at once). We discuss the 28 days of February separately.

The result of my work was achieved: my daughter understood everything immediately, the first time. We periodically go to the calendar and show with our fingers what day it is, what the weather is like, what month of the year, what date.

All drawings, numbers and words are embroidered by me. The calendar can be washed. And it can still serve for more than one year, and not only for us. If the idea helps any of the mothers, I will be only glad.

Elena, Toulouse, France.

What benefits do you use? Tell us in the comments!

We'll make our own clocks and learn to tell time! We will learn interesting games over time, and we will also be able to download useful materials! The ability to freely navigate time makes a child more independent and responsible, so it is better to teach him to tell time by the dial of a clock already in preschool age.

Although electronic watches greatly simplify this task, it is the dial that makes time space more visual.

Watch the educational video “how to learn to tell time”:

At the same time, it is very important to constantly remember that when we teach time by the clock, for children the concepts of “minute”, “second” and “hour” are very abstract, since they cannot compare them with real time intervals. This point will need to be given special attention.

How to make a watch with your child with your own hands?

Simple enough. For this you will need:

compass (or finished circle);
thick cardboard;
marker;
a simple pencil;
ruler;
scissors;
pushpin with a head.

We draw a circle on the cardboard and place numbers indicating the hours along its edge. Using a ruler, measure the distance from the center of the circle to the numbers, and make a narrower minute hand of that length. And we make the sentry wider and shorter. We fix the arrows in the center using a pushpin. Ready!

You can use a more complex ready-made template to make it - for example, print a clock with moving hands on thick printer paper and stick it on a cardboard base.

How to learn to tell time?

Using, we study clocks with a child according to a simple scheme:

We explain that the small hand shows the hour, and the long and narrow hand shows the minute. This explanation looks more logical if you pay attention to the fact that we have very few hours (that’s why the hand is small), but they last a long time (that’s why the hand is so wide). And there are a lot of minutes (that’s why the hand is longer), but they pass quickly (that’s why it’s so narrow). We mix the hands and ask the child to show: which hand shows the hours and which minutes? We practice until the baby learns to distinguish the arrows unmistakably.
We learn to look at how many hours the hour hand shows. Usually children get confused when it is placed in an intermediate position between two numbers, so you need to work on this point.
We explain that five minutes fit between two hours. For clarity, it is better to use a dial where the minutes are written separately. (This will be discussed in a separate paragraph of our article). We train: we call the number and ask the child to say how many minutes it is. After such training, mastering the minute hand will not be difficult.
We move on to the final stage: we put the hands in a certain position and invite the child to determine what time the clock is showing at the moment. We move the arrows, determine the time again, etc.

Then we ask the child to put the arrows in the desired position (for example, at 5:30, 6:40, etc.).

We will definitely practice our skills on real watches. At every opportunity, while the child’s interest is still active, ask him what time it is.

Why do you need to know what time it is? Time and daily routine.

Often a child who has learned to tell time well does not understand why he needs it. Therefore, when we study time with a child, we make sure to make the lessons practical.

So, using special cards, it is easy to connect time with the baby’s real daily routine - he will be interested in knowing when he wakes up, plays, puts away toys, goes to kindergarten, watches cartoons, and starts classes in the sports section. At this stage, we smoothly move on to understanding the duration of a time period, learning to compare our actions with the dial of a clock.

Sample cards “daily routine of a 1st grade student in pictures”

How to clearly show a child 5 minutes? How to clearly show 60 minutes to a child?

As already mentioned, children very often find it difficult to determine the minutes. In order for this skill to be perfected, you can use special dials - for example, a dial with a folding edge. Hours are written on its upper part; each interval between adjacent hours is divided into 5 parts, which are drawn with a bright marker.

This helps to remember that in one step of the arrow from number to number, 5 minutes will pass, and not one. Under the main dial we attach an additional one, on which all the minutes are written (5, 10, 15, etc.). During the lesson, we try to determine the time and compare how many minutes the child has logged with the designation on the lower dial.

You can make an additional dial with the minutes marked on the outer edge of the main one - visual memory will help the child learn this information.

Visual study of time with the constructor

For clarity, you can use the usual Lego constructor, as we used it for. The dial is drawn on a large sheet of paper, with hours on the inner edge and minutes on the outer edge. We lay out its contours using construction blocks, using the same blocks as an arrow. We move the arrow and determine how much time it showed. Dial from Lego 2

What can you do in 1 second? What can you do in 1 minute?

In order for the child to better feel the duration of each time period, after he learns to work with a real clock, we conduct small experiments - we find out how much time it takes to do this or that action, what can be done in the designated period of time. This can be done as a separate game, or it can be combined with ordinary everyday activities - for example, try to determine how much time a child takes for breakfast, washing, getting dressed. So he will gradually learn to calculate his time.

For children who can confidently tell time, we suggest practicing the ability to write the correct time in numbers.

Studying time for preschoolers can be completed with a simple exercise that is often used in school: a certain position of the hands is drawn on the dial, and in the boxes under it you need to write what time the dial shows. This task is used in many tests for admission to high-status schools.