How a children’s bedside clock can help your child learn to tell the time 

We’re living in an increasingly digital world and yet children are still expected to learn to tell the time on an analog clock as part of the primary curriculum. If you rely on your phone, computer screen, or smartwatch to know what time it is, that’s understandable, but in order to help your child learn it’s a good idea to start putting some analog clocks around your home. One great way to support your child’s learning is by putting a clock in their bedroom. Time teaching resources such as our children’s bedside clock can really make a difference to their understanding, and of course, help them to appreciate when is an acceptable time to get out of bed!

The concept of time 

Ok, so we may have overexaggerated on the getting out of bed thing. We appreciate that young children are just too excited to start their day to worry about whether the adults have had enough sleep, but that said, having a clock your child can refer to when they wake is the start of building an understanding about the concept of time. 

Interactive learning 

A child’s alarm clock also has the benefit of being interactive. Not only can they look at the hour and minute hands and large numbers to try to put the elements of time together, but they can also use the button to set and unset the alarm. 

Not just an alarm clock! 

Our clocks also double as a night light with their built-in LED lighting, so if little ones don’t like sleeping in the dark, they can rely on the gentle glow from their bedside clock to provide some reassuring light. 

Improve the bedtime routine 

You can use an alarm clock to help a child understand their bedtime routine. For example, you can clearly point out when it is time to brush their teeth or get into bed. This helps them to associate certain routines with particular times of day, and then see what they look like on the clock. As they become more confident, you can ask them to let you know when it’s time to grab their toothbrush or get dressed ready for bed. 

What to look for in a child’s alarm clock 

For young children who are just starting to learn to tell the time at school, an alarm clock with bold, bright colours and easy to read numbers will be most helpful. Our children’s bedside clocks have been designed with either our ‘past and to’ or ‘12/24 hour’ time teaching method, both of which feature bold colourful numbers for each hour and a clear breakdown of the minutes, to help support what children are learning in the classroom. 

Another important feature to look out for is silent hands. Kids don’t need much of an excuse to avoid going to sleep, so putting an alarm clock with a noisy ticking sound next to their bed could be fuelling their night time restlessness. We much prefer a silent clock, which is why we’ve designed our children’s alarm clocks with silent sweeping hands.  

For parents of little sleepy heads, the crescendo alarm is a popular feature as it starts off with a gentle beep and gets louder until it is turned off. 

To find out more about the features and benefits of our children’s bedside clocks or to choose your preferred time teaching method and colour, please click here.