Teach Time to the Hour with 5 Easy Activities

It's that 'time' of the year! Haha! See what I did there? It's time to teach your students all about the analog clock to the hour. Half hour will be addressed in another post SOON.  I tried hard to put both hour and half hour here, but it just got too confusing.

Do you wonder where to start or how to begin teaching time? Do you fear that you won't be able to teach the analog clock? I have had the same worries. I have spent a long time teaching this concept only to realize that I didn't always get the concept across on assessment day. 

I have also rushed teaching hour and half hour together all in the same week.  After years of teaching this, I have discovered a few tricks and created activities to help me teach and assess this concept and hopefully these activities will help you, too!

Activity 1:  Teaching Analog Time to the Hour

It is essential to teach time using an actual analog clock in hand.  In elementary schools, many times they have the big yellow clocks.  But your classroom may not have a teaching clock or you may be a homeschool parent. No worries! Grab that analog clock off the wall or purchase one at the dollar store! You can do this!

Wind the clock around until the small hour hand is on any number.  For the sake of this post, I will say 10:00.  Wind the minute hand around to the 12.  Explain the small hand is the hour hand.  The large hand is the minute hand.  Interaction is key here.  Ask your students or child to come up and point to the hour hand.  Then ask another child to point to the minute hand.  Tell them for now we are only going to watch that little guy, the hour hand. We'll worry about the minute hand later! For now, he (the minute hand) will always stay on the 12.

Continue with this social story. Be sure to use your dramatic voice and play it up big time! This little hour hand is so bossy!  He always calls out the hour or first number we say! Wherever he is, that's what we have to say because he is soooo bossy!! (For now, let's just focus on the hour. I know the hour hand moves at half hour, but that is too much information to share right off the bat.) Ask what number that little bossy hour hand is on!  That's right, the 10! So the hour hand makes us say 'ten o'clock!'  See how bossy the small hour hand is? And the big minute hand just sits on the 12 for now. When the big minute hand is on the 12, we say O'CLOCK! 

Move the hour hand around to another number such as 2, and the minute hand to the 12.  Keep up your drama with the bossy hour hand.  Ask where is that bossy hour hand? That's right he is on the 2, so we say 2:00! I repeat this activity daily for a week at the math calendar station, having students guess the time to the hour for 3-4 examples until I am sure they understand time to the hour. Don't rush this part.  They need to have the hour concrete before moving to the half hour.  

Activity 2: Students Practice the Hour

It is important students get to practice with their own clock.  I am blessed to have a small yellow clock for each of my students to practice.  If you do not have little clocks, let students take turns practicing with your analog clock you grabbed off the wall, praising and correcting as you continue to teach individually.  

Call out a time to the hour and let them practice moving the hands around until they find the time you call out.  In whole group in my class, I call out 3-4 times.  They have to raise their clocks up to show me.  I can quickly scan the room to see who may need assistance.  I continue to call out times to keep others busy, checking them, and walk over to direct any students that are struggling with the concept. This can also be done in small groups.

Activity 3: Race to Find the Time

I think you see where this is going!  Haha! After they have practiced several times to the hour with their own clocks, call out a time and have them race to see who finds it first.  You must explain this is just a game and not everyone can find the time first.  Also after doing this for many years, there are some years I have students that are so competitive and cannot lose.  In this case, it would be best to do this in small groups so you can be close to quickly console and teach about winning and losing.  But for the most part, my students LOVE to play this game! This is the year of COVID, so for now we are doing most of everything whole class.

Activity 4: Color the Time

This is a FREE product that will help you teach time to the hour.  Make sure to stick to the hour for now.  Half hour is also included for future teaching. Students will need crayons and a copy of the coloring sheet.  Call on students to tell you the color for the time in the key.  Click here for this FREE product or on the picture below.

Activity 5: Practice Writing and Drawing the Time FREE

In this product, you can have students identify the time and write it digitally to the hour.  Half hour is also included but for now, stick to the hour.  I like to double side these.  We practice one side together, and they do the other side independently. This is a great way to see who may need remediation.  Click HERE to receive these practice pages! Or you may click on the picture below. For the full product, the links are provided below.

Click on the following links for more time activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

**Need to teach time to the hour AND half hour before some of the following activities.**

👉Time to the Hour and Half Hour Scavenger Hunt 

👉Time to the Hour and Half Hour First Grade

If you have ANY questions or suggestions,  I would love to hear your feedback. Do you have a tip you would like to share? Post in the comment section below.  Have fun!!