What watch for a child?
The first baby watch in the past, it was one of the most valuable gifts given to a boy or girl on special occasions - as a reward for a good testimony or on the occasion of First Holy Communion. Sometimes it was a memento passed down from generation to generation. Today the first baby watch it's just a gadget, but it can be very useful.
Gone are the days when the family council discussed the topic: what kind of watch for a child, and the watch was - next to a bicycle - the most precious communion gift. Today it has been replaced by quads, laptops, tablets and smartphones. The latter, equipped with many more functions than the most modern watch, have become an inseparable companion not only for ourselves, but also for our children. Experts are horrified to point out that an increasing percentage of Poles, including young children, are becoming addicted to mobile devices.
What kind of watch for a child: with or without hands?
The question of what watch for a child, however, remains valid. Why? Because more and more children, using only their smartphones, cannot read the time on a traditional clock! We may argue whether a wristwatch is obsolete or not, but experts agree that clocks with hands will remain in our reality for a long time and the ability to use them is a must.
Expert advises
You can teach your child to use the watch using educational games that are recommended for toddlers from the age of 3. There is still a long way to go to the habit of controlling time on various occasions. At the beginning, we focus on making our child understand what time and the passage of time are. We teach the child to feel and control time, which includes knowing the time of day and specific activities performed at different times, and planning these activities in the future. Even if we have the habit of controlling time on various occasions, we learn this art throughout our lives.
A watch for a 5-year-old, or learning numbers
A watch for a 5-year-old should help first of all in learning to read the time - it should be comfortable, equipped with soft strap and glass resistant to scratches and impacts. Ideally, it should be waterproof, but it doesn't have to be an expensive smartwatch yet. It is important that such a watch has an appropriate construction and is made of materials safe for a child, which is confirmed by appropriate approvals.
Parents often ask what kind of GPS watch for a child, but there will be time for such a model later. Our 5-year-old toddler may have different ideas that may end badly for a watch. So we have to reckon with the fact that the first baby watch will not have a long life. When choosing, it is better to take into account the elements that will make it easier to read the time, e.g. Easy-to-read dial with Arabic numeralsand not, for example, dashes. It is also important the length of the hands so that they reach precisely the digits, and at the same time it is easy to distinguish the minute hand from the hour hand.
When learning numbers and hours, the watch for a 5-year-old should be combined with educational games, but also with ordinary activities in the home life. At this stage, we only focus on full hours. At the age of five, let's not expect too much from a child - he just needs to know the numbers and start identifying a given hour with a certain time of the day.
Helpful in this learning will work with the child to develop a paper clock face with movable pointers attached to the dial with a pin. On the dial, next to the hours, pictures will be drawn or glued to illustrate the activities - such aids can be seen on Montessori educational cards. The bedtime will be symbolized by a bed with a sleeping child, 7.00 a.m. is a wake-up call, 8.00 a.m. - breakfast, etc.
Expert advises
What else is a watch for a 5-year-old useful for? With it in hand, the child will begin to associate certain places on the clock face with the times of the day, with morning, noon, afternoon, evening and night. They also solidified the knowledge of numbers and will begin to associate them with specific times of the day. The first watch for a child can become a gift that will give your toddler self-confidence and will be a unique item that he should learn to care for. And that's a lot.
A watch for a 6-year-old, i.e. the beginning of a journey in time
At the age of 6, the child is still exercising the ability to quickly recognize numbers. A watch for a 6-year-old may come in handy learning to associate a specific time with specific activities during the day and determining their duration.
It is important, however, that the watch for the 6-year-old should not be too colorful - let's choose a model with expressive figures that will not be overwhelmed by pictures from fairy tales. If a child has mastered the indication of full hours, he or she may learn the concepts of half an hour, a quarter of an hour, and then minutes, and try to use them in learning to tell time.
Expert advises
A watch for a 6-year-old can be successfully used to observe the passage of time, e.g. the way from kindergarten to home takes half an hour, and the favorite roast must be in the oven for an hour and a half to be soft and tasty. Once your child begins to record the passage of time and accurately determine it, it can be a lot of fun to keep track of time. So it is important that the watch for a 6-year-old shows not only full hours, but also minutes, marked with dots on the dial.
A watch for a 7-year-old, i.e. learning to use the clock
Only at 7-8 years of age is the child able to learn to read the time correctly and tell the time. For that, you need it the ability to grasp the abstract concept of time and understand that an hour consists of 60 minutest. If a preschool child practices this skill, a watch for a 7-year-old will be a useful tool in learning to accurately tell the time, and the learning itself will become very simple for him.
The child should begin to use in practice terms such as: in half an hour, in 12 minutes, two hours after. Then it is worth practicing showing on the clock, what time will be 2 hours ago or what time it was 3 hours ago. This is a good introduction to the math problems that will appear at school. Children who have flawlessly mastered the art of using a clock with pointers can get to know an electronic clock based on a 24-hour system.
Expert advises
Contrary to appearances, the transition to the 24-hour system can be difficult - do not decide on it too quickly, because the child will start to get everything wrong. Therefore, a watch for a 7-year-old can be electronic, provided that our child uses a traditional watch without any problems. And it's not about batteries, because nowadays most watches, even those with hands, are battery operated, but models with a digital display, instead of the classic dial and hands.
What GPS watch should you buy?
If we want to equip our child with something a bit more expensive, and at the same time take care of their safety, we ask ourselves what GPS watch for a child to choose, e.g. when starting school.
Smartwatch it will enable parents to locate GPS, LBS and Wi-Fi, regardless of whether our child is located in an open or closed area. When looking for an answer to the question of what GPS watch is worth buying, remember that some models also have a phone with programmed contacts for family members, voice monitoring and an SOS button that alerts up to three different phone numbers at the same time. The watch can also record the child's geolocation history saved on the SIM card.
When considering what a GPS watch might be a good choice for a child, it's worth considering using it for improve the skills of reading time in a 24-hour system. However, we advise you to get such a gadget only for the child who goes to school.
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