When and how to teach a child to watch?
For the current generation of 30-40-year-olds, the first Holy Communion was the occasion to get their first watch. Today, no one buys watches for a gift on this occasion, unless we are talking about smartwatches. The child receives a classic pointer watch from his parents or another close person.
However, doubts still arise about how to teach a child to read the clock and when is the right time to start learning to tell the time correctly?
When is it time to start exercising on a kids watch?
Learning to tell time on a clock is expected in the first grade of primary school, but perhaps our child will be ready for clockwork exercises earlier ? Let's start with the obvious: to teach a child to read a clock, they must have a good understanding of numbers, be able to perform simple arithmetic, and be able to count by fives . If these conditions are met, all that remains is to explain to our little one what this abstract time is, why we need to keep track of it, and how to function to avoid being late.
These days, it's often necessary to show children what a classic clock is. While these things may seem obvious to adults, they're anything but obvious to children.
To help your child understand why time is important, we should get a large clock with a hand . Ideally, we should make a clock to teach and prepare exercises with our child. This shouldn't be difficult, and it can be a great opportunity for fun in itself.
We're making a clock to learning hours
This is meant to be a model of a clock with hands, illustrating to the child what activities we perform at different times of the day . We'll use a drawing pad, markers, a bottle cap, and a drawing pin. On our paper clock face, we'll draw large, clear hours.
To teach your child the clock's meaning , you can draw the activity you're doing at each hour. For example, at 16.00 p.m., draw cutlery or something to eat to represent lunchtime, at 7.00 a.m., draw an alarm clock to symbolize waking up, etc. This way, you'll help your child begin to perceive time as something that organizes their activities. Learning the time will seem more important and relevant to them.
Hours and minutes: learning on the watch
Once they've mastered this, let's explain—slowly and calmly— the role of the small and large hands . On our demonstration clock, the hands should be clearly distinguishable—so our child can't confuse them. How can you teach a child to read a clock?
Let's start with the small minute hand and focus on it a little longer, making your child aware of its dual role in counting both the hour and the minutes.
Once your little one understands this, we can move on to teaching them to tell the time on a clock . Whole hours shouldn't pose any difficulties. Once your little one has mastered this, it's time to tell the half hour. To properly teach your child to tell minutes, it's worth focusing first on the right side of the clock face, meaning telling the time between the hour and half past.
This is the easier part to learn; it simply requires counting in increments of "5." Reading the minutes on the left side of the clock face (between the half hour and the next full hour), when saying, for example, "ten to five," is more difficult for children. Sometimes, little ones avoid this counting and say, for example, "forty past nine," which sounds a bit funny. However, if the time is measured correctly, we can overlook this for the first time.
Expert advises
There are children's watches on the market with a dial divided in half by a vertical line. The word "po" is written on the right side of the dial, and "za" on the left. This clever solution can make telling time much easier for children , especially when they're just starting to practice with a watch.
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