Learning to tell the time on an analogue clock is a skill many find difficult to learn and frustrating to teach.

BUT…

When time is taught in the right way, with the right language, and using a clear repeatable transferable process (strategy), it is much smoother sailing.

I use the 3-step method when teaching analogue time. You can find out all the specifics, including helpful videos that show you not just what to teach but how to teach it in our comprehensive blog post How to Teach the Time, here. 

With short daily practice, using the 3 step method (and good technique) most children can learn to tell the time in a week.

Yes, it is possible for most children to learn to tell the time in 7 days. You need to know what to teach and you need to know how to teach it. 

The “what” is the 3 steps and the “how” refers to short strength based daily practice and good teaching techniques. 

You will find more detail on the “what” and the “how” in our comprehensive post on Teaching the Time.

Before we get started, here's a quick refresh...

• A good teaching clock is simple and uncluttered. It has the minutes numbered 1 through 30 clockwise and 1 through 30 anti-clockwise. Ideally, your clock would have the past and to sides labelled. It also helps if your clock is geared (so the hour hand will move with the minute hand). We also have a free printable clock you can download and print at home (scroll to the bottom of post).
• Your child or student will need to be able to correctly identify the numerals 1-30
  
  Shop Our Geared Clock
• The 3 steps:

1. What hand do we look at (big/minute), 
2. Where is it?  eg at the top (o’clock), half way ‘round (half-past), on the past or to sides
3. Where do we start counting from (the top)

• Each session should be short (5 to 10 minutes tops) and strength based. As a rule of thumb, if your child is not answering questions for a particular stage with at least 90% accuracy, they are not ready to move on. Accuracy builds confidence, reinforces the skills required and makes the whole process enjoyable for everyone but especially your child. Success is a lot more fun than repeatedly failing.

n.b. Most of the students I work with have significant learning challenges and find it much easier to learn to tell the time when we refer to the MINUTE hand as the BIG hand and the HOUR hand as the LITTLE hand.

If your child is able to cope well referring to the hands of the clock as MINUTE and HOUR hands then by all means use those terms - as they are the correct terms and it would be preferable.

Day 1 

Focus:

• Introduce the clock (and ensure your child has prerequisite knowledge)
• Introduce Step 1 and 2 - finding the BIG hand and where it is
• Introduce O’CLOCK

Show your child the clock and have a chat about the features. Check your child knows all the numerals needed (they will need to know numbers 1 through to 30) and also be able to identify the BIG hand (minute) from the LITTLE hand (hour).

Talk about how clocks often don’t look exactly the same and sometimes it can be confusing. But there is a way to make it really simple and really easy.

Say: 

“The trick is, when you look at a clock, you just look for the BIG hand. You always find the BIG hand, and everything else happens after that”.  

Put the BIG hand of your clock pointing to the top, and the little hand at the 4. Explain when the BIG hand is at the top, it means it’s going to be an o’clock.

Say:

“Can you see the BIG hand?” (yes) 

“Where is it?” (at the top)

“Yes, it’s at the top, so it‘s going to be an o’clock” 

“Now we sneak a look at the little hand and that will tell us what O’CLOCK it is” 

“it’s going to be 4 o’clock”

Give a couple more examples of o’clock times, working through them together and using the same method as above. Give your child lots of opportunities to have a go themselves at identifying O’CLOCK times (minimum of 10 successful practice attempts).

Important: Finish with a reminder that we always find the BIG hand and look to see WHERE it is.

Day 2

Focus:

• Revise step 1 and 2 - What hand do we look at? Where is it?
• Revise O’CLOCK
• Introduce HALF PAST

Revise what you did yesterday. Always start with checking and reinforcing what hand we look at and where it is. If it’s at the top we know it’s going to be an O’CLOCK.

Give a couple of practice times for o’clocks. Then move the big hand to half way around the clock, and the little hand on the 7.

Say:

“Can you see the BIG hand?” (yes)

“where is it? is it at the top?” (no)

“no, its half way ‘round isn’t it” 

Demonstrate moving the BIG hand from the o’clock (top) turning it to half way ‘round.

Say: 

“If the BIG hand is half way ‘round, we say HALF PAST” (ask your child to say half past)

Say:

“yes thats right, if the BIG hand is half way round it isn’t an O’CLOCK anymore its a HALF PAST”

“... it would be HALF PAST 4”

Demonstrate a couple more HALF PAST times, encouraging your child to join in as much as possible. Verbalise the steps often, what hand do we look at, where is it?

Then give your child lots of opportunities to practice HALF PAST times. You can also include a couple of o’clocks to reinforce the importance of looking at the BIG hand and attending to where it is.

Day 3 

Focus:

• Revise step 1 and 2 - What hand do we look at? Where is it?
• Introduce the past side
• Introduce step 3 - where do we start counting from?

Revise what you have done so far: the 3 steps - What hand do you look at? Where is it?,O’CLOCKs and HALF PASTs.

You want to set your child up to succeed, with a position and mindset of strength.  

Now, set the clock at 8 o’clock.

Say:

"What hand do we always look at?"  (the BIG hand)

"Where is it?" (on the O’CLOCK)

"What o’clock is it?" (8 o’clock)

Next, set the clock to HALF PAST 8.

Say:

"What about now? Is the BIG hand on the now, is the BIG hand at the top?" (no, its half way ‘round)

"Yes, thats right, so its…"  (HALF PAST 8)

Finally, set the clock to 3 minutes past 8. Encourage your child to watch closely while you position the big hand.

Say:

"Where is the BIG hand now? Is it on the O’CLOCK or HALF PAST?" (no)

"No, its gone just PAST the O’CLOCK hasn’t it. Its on the PAST side" (point to the past side of the clock, show the past side of the clock)

Say:

"When the BIG hand is on this side of the clock point to the right hand side of the clock face it has gone past the top and we say it is on the PAST side."

"We count from the top > 1 2 3 it is 3 minutes past 8"

Teach the 3rd step, start counting from the top.

Say:

"We always look at the BIG hand" (step 1 - use your hand to show counting 1)

"Where is it" (step 2 -use your hand to show counting 2)

AND

"We always start counting from the top" (step 3 - use your hand to show counting 3)

Demonstrate a couple more minutes PAST times, encouraging your child to join in as much as possible.

Then give your child lots of opportunities to practice PAST times (with support as needed). Always reinforce the 3 steps!

Day 4

Focus:

• Revise step 1, 2 and 3 - What hand do we look at? Where is it? Where do we start counting from?
• Revise O’CLOCK, HALF PAST and PAST time
• Practice PAST times to mastery

This session is a consolidation session.

Say:

“What are the three things we need to do when telling the time?” (1. Find the big hand 2. Where is it? 3. Start counting from the top)

Present an O’CLOCK and a HALF PAST for your child to work out.

Refresh how to do a PAST time by modelling and talking it through yourself, encouraging your child to join in and do as much on their own as they can. If they have a good grasp of it, then give them lots of practice doing PAST times.  

If they aren’t quite grasping the PAST side to mastery, then do more modelling and more joint demonstrations before setting them PAST times to do on their own.

Day 5

Focus:

• Revise step 1, 2 and 3 - what hand do we look at? where is it? Where do we start counting from?
• Revise PAST times
• Practice a mix of O’CLOCKs, HALF PAST and a couple of PAST times
• Introduce the TO side

Revise the 3 steps.

Say:

“What are the three things we need to do when telling the time?” (1. Find the big hand 2. Where is it? 3. Start counting from the top)

Present an O’CLOCK, HALF PAST and a couple of PAST times, making sure your child is confident with these. Finish with 17 minutes PAST 10.

Now, set the clock to 4 minutes TO 10. Encourage your child to watch closely while you position the big hand on the TO side.

Say:

"Where is the big hand now? Is it on the O’CLOCK or HALF PAST?" (no)

"Is it on the PAST side?" (no)

"No, this time it’s on the TO side, it’s on it way TO the top isn't it?" (point to the TO side of the clock, show the “to” side of the clock)

Say:

"When the big hand is on this side of the clock point to the left hand side of the clock face it is on it’s way to the top and we say it is on the TO side."

"We count from the top, only this time we go this way point in anti-clockwise direction 1 2 3 4…it is 4 minutes to 10"

Remind your child of the 3 steps.

Say:

"We always look at the big hand." (step 1)

"Where is it?" (step 2)

"We always start counting from the top only this time we go this < way (anti-clockwise)" (step 3)

Demonstrate a couple more minutes TO times, encouraging your child to join as much as they can. Then give your child lots of opportunities to practice TO times (with support, as needed).

Always reinforce the 3 steps.

Day 6  

Focus:

• Revise step 1, 2 and 3 - what hand do we look at? where is it? Where do we start counting from?
• Revise the PAST and TO times
• Practice the TO side to mastery

Revise what you have done so far: the 3 steps What hand do you look at?, Where is it? Where do we start counting from?, past and to times.

This session is a consolidation session.

Go over the 3 steps together. Ask them to teach you what needs to happen to tell the time. Model telling time yourself, verbalising the steps you’re following. 

Provide guided practice, which means sharing the task together and providing support as it’s needed. Provide independent practice. Give feedback and help, gently correct if necessary, always keeping the time together positive and strength based.

Day 7 

Focus:

• Revise step 1, 2 and 3 - what hand do we look at? where is it? Where do we start counting from?
• Revise O’CLOCK, HALF PAST, PAST and TO side
• Practice a mix of all the times

This session will really test your child’s skills, as they’ll truly need to know the 3 steps and how to apply them in any scenario because you will present random times (o’clocks, half past, to and past times in any order).

But first, always revise and begin with a point of strength before moving to randomised practice of telling the time questions.

The best way to make repetition (practice) FUN, is to play a game or maybe set a challenge.

I love to play First to Ten. It is so easy and quick to set up and play. Every time they answer a time question correctly they get a point. Any time they get one wrong, I get their point. Obviously, I set my students up to succeed and usually they do win resoundingly!

I’ve included a little snapshot of First to 10 in the clip below. 

Final Thoughts...

Telling the time is a life skill that can be easily attained if it is taught well.We can reduce complexity and confusion by:

• Focusing on the minute hand (BIG) first
  
• Using a simple 3 step method every time
  
• Building on each session from a point of strength
  
• And making it FUN 

If you do find that your child is struggling to master a level, don’t feel pressured to keep moving them on to the next day. It is absolutely fine to spend more time, indeed, it is far better to do so - if they need that. If that be the case, it’s not a race, consider the “days” more like “stages”.

If you’re looking for high-quality teaching clocks designed to support this step-by-step approach, you can explore our range at starfishstore.com.au.

We’ve also created a couple of free resources to help you get started at home or in the classroom — including a printable practice clock and a simple 7-day learning plan to guide your child through analogue time, one skill at a time.

 Download Printable Clock

Download 7 Day Guide

Once your child can confidently tell the time on a teaching clock, you can gradually move on to other types of clocks by following the same three steps and helping them apply their skills in everyday settings. 

And if you’re ever unsure about the best next step or would like more personalised support, please feel free to reach out — we’re always happy to help. Contact us here.

Bio

Kirstie Wishart M.Ed (Special Education).
Owner and founder of The Starfish Store. Kirstie’s professional life has included: teaching (in both public and private schools in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand), lecturer and subject coordinator at the University of Wollongong, Educational consultant (working with children and young people with a trauma background), OoHC Case Work Manager, and Specialist Tutor (working with children and young people with significant learning difficulties and/or disabilities).