Parents and child psychologists agree that it is most difficult to explain abstract concepts to kids. To teach understanding of time is not always easy even for an elementary school student, not to mention young children. But meanwhile, this is a necessary practical skill, and everyone will have to master it. Especially for you, dear parents, our article is on how to teach a child to understand time in a clock.
The formation of the concept of time
With normal development, a child from infancy notices the change of day and night. You will be surprised, but even the very little ones really realize the regime of the day. A small child easily learns to fall asleep and wake up at about the same time. At the same time, the baby still can not understand that it is supposed to go to bed at 21:00, he just feels the desire to sleep.
After about the child’s first birthday, you can begin to unobtrusively introduce the concept of time. Use the notation “morning”, “day”, “evening” and “night” in everyday speech. Kids over two years old can talk about the days of the week.
How to teach a child to understand time without difficulty? With preschoolers, you can safely make plans for the day. Start by identifying the main activities separately for morning, afternoon, and evening. If parents often indicate some time intervals in conversations with the child: “let's go for a walk in two hours” or “you should get out in 10 minutes” - the baby will soon remember these words. But do not forget that because of the abstractness of a concept, just knowing the names of the units of its measurement will not teach you how to feel time.
When is the time to get acquainted with the watch?
Teachers advise starting classes with the clock only when the child knows the numbers well enough and knows how to count. The approximate age for a visual acquaintance with the passage of time is 6 years. Before you think about how to teach a child to understand time in a clock, check his knowledge. To study mechanical watches, a child needs to be able to count to at least 100 and perform mathematical operations such as addition and subtraction. Also, the child should not confuse the numbers. It is very good if the baby knows what a half, a quarter is, and freely operates with temporary concepts of "before" and "after".
Theoretically, you can introduce a child to a watch earlier, at the age of 4-5 years. Suffice it to be short stories about the division of the dial, clockwise movement and the basic principles of determining the time. Just do not demand from the baby that he immediately learns to name the exact time with minutes or performs exercises designed for first graders. Conduct your studies unobtrusively and in a playful way.
Mechanical and electronic watches
In our age of high technology, traditional watch devices with a dial and hands are not in every home. A logical question arises: "Should a child be taught at all to understand time by a mechanical clock?" The answer to it is definitely affirmative. Only a classic watch with a dial will help to understand the course of time and clearly demonstrate the number of hours in a day. Do not worry, over time you can easily explain how to understand what time it is on electronic displays. And it will be much easier to do this if the child is already familiar with the classic watch. Be sure to purchase a wall-mounted time meter with a dial. A great idea is to additionally give your child a personal beautiful classic watch. You will also need visual aid for training and games.
Do-it-yourself watches
How to teach a child to understand time by the clock, you ask? It is very useful to use toy watches to teach this wisdom. You can purchase them in the toy department or do it yourself. Take on the manufacture of this craft with your child. From a thick cardboard cut a large dial. Mark it up like a real watch; if you wish, you can add decorative decorations to the background. Cut out two arrows from cardboard in contrasting color; it is important that they differ in length and width. Attach them to the dial using the button. Fasten the structure so that the arrows move easily.
In the process, explain to the child the basic principles of the present watch, if you have not talked about this before. In order to successfully interact with this device, you should know that every hour consists of 60 minutes, and a day - of 24 hours.
First acquaintance with the watch
Where to start training? During the first lesson on the passage of time, tell your child about the division of the dial and the hands. Set the minute hand to 12 and show “even hours” (1:00, 2:00, etc.). It will be difficult for a child to immediately realize the passage of time; support your story with associations understandable to him. For example, recall that 3:00 is lunch time, and at 5:00 his favorite cartoons begin. Ask the child to set his own time for “even hours”. Having achieved success at this stage, we can safely proceed to the next. Tell us that the minute hand completes a full circle in 1 hour. Try to set different times and ask the child to determine it.
Tell me, what time is it?
In order to teach a child to determine the time by the clock, it is necessary to regularly pay attention to the dial. We hope that a classic timepiece is already hanging in your living room. In addition to regular “lessons,” make a habit of asking, “What time is it?” - or ask: "Spot 10 minutes." In no case do not scold the child for mistakes and do not be lazy to once again repeat the basics of hourly reading and writing with him.
How to teach a child to understand time clockwise during thematic classes? Take the toy dial. Ask your baby to set a specific time. If the child thinks well, you can complicate the task. Offer to show where the arrows will be in 10, 15, 20 minutes from the set time.
We make the daily schedule by the clock
How to teach a child to understand the time by the clock? Playing in such a difficult matter can help achieve incredible success. Doubt it? Check in person. It is time to improve the homemade manual for determining the time. Cut small cards out of thick paper with your child. Select the main character and draw a specific moment from his day on each paper square. Let it be a funny little man, a fairy-tale character or some kind of cute animal. Connect your imagination and try to come up with a case for every hour. Let the hero brush his teeth on one card, walks on the other, and dines on the third. Once the set of pictures is ready, you can begin to play. Set the time on the dial, and let the child select the appropriate picture.
The second version of the game is to draw your own daily routine. In the evening or in the morning, lay out the cards around the dial, planning a sequence of actions for the day. It is advisable to somehow fix the pictures and check themselves during the day, not forgetting to move the arrows.
A quarter and a half
In use for determining the time of a classic watch, it is difficult to do without concepts such as “a quarter of an hour” or “half an hour”. As soon as your baby gets close enough familiar with the dial, hands and numbers, it's time to explain these conventional units of time. How to teach a child to use the clock and understand the time, divided into halves and quarters of an hour? Remember that children understand any explanations best when combining audio and graphic presentation of information. Draw a few dials on a piece of paper. Let the clock show 15 minutes on one of them and 30 minutes on the other. For clarity, you can shade segments from the number 12 to the one on which the hand stopped. Explain to the child the meaning of such common expressions as “twenty minutes to one” or “fifteen minutes”.
Useful Tips for Parents
Familiarization of the child with any new global topic is best done in the format of daily mini-lessons. Do not demand school discipline from the kid, it is better to unobtrusively invite him to play with the clock. If the child is not in the mood or the lesson is unproductive, finish earlier than planned. Remember: learning to read, write or read literacy will not be productive if it becomes an unpleasant duty. The most useful advice on how to teach your child understanding by the clock is to maintain interest in this topic. Try to talk about time regularly. Talk about the types of watches, show the mechanical timer and stopwatch. Teach your child to feel the time and invent their own units. For example, you can remind the kid that the walk lasts 1.5 hours, and his favorite cartoon - 15 minutes.
How to teach a child to determine the time by the clock and consolidate the result?
In order to qualitatively consolidate new knowledge, it is required to regularly use it in practice. Let your child keep track of time on their own and explain to him how important it is to be punctual. Let the baby from time to time recalls what time it is necessary to leave the house. Together, you can pinpoint the duration of some processes. Such an activity is sure to captivate the child. Offer to detect by the hour, how long the food has been preparing, the bath is being typed, and the television program is going on. This simple exercise is great at teaching time. Very soon, your baby will learn to plan his day on his own and, looking at his watch, consult with the implementation of this plan. After all, knowing that the process of training for a walk lasts 10 minutes, he will be able to remove toys in time and prepare for a walk.
We hope that our tips on how to teach a child time on a watch will help you and will be useful.