Whether you’re a parent trying to support your child in their learning, a grandparent looking for an educational gift or a teacher sourcing the best resources to use in the classroom, you’re in the right place to find the perfect clock for teaching time. With many different products available, we’re here, as parents with experience of the time teaching struggle, to show you what features you need to consider when buying a clock to help your child learn this vital skill.
The best size clock for teaching time
We’re firm believers that there isn’t one size that fits all as some children will prefer to see a clock on the wall when learning to tell the time, whereas others will prefer a watch on their wrist to practise on the go. However, if you are looking for a teaching time clock for your walls at home or in the classroom, we believe our clocks are perfectly proportioned!
Wall Clocks– Our wall clocks are ideal for use at home – in bedrooms, nurseries, playrooms and kitchens. With a diameter of 29cm they are the perfect size to be seen across the room, without taking up too much space.
Classroom Clocks– our classroom clocks are a larger version of our popular wall clocks and have been upscaled to a diameter of 35cm to enable them to be seen by students across the classroom. With an ergonomic hanger and curriculum notes printed on the back of the clock, they are a really helpful resource for demonstrating time teaching in the classroom.
Alarm Clocks– our alarm clocks are a great bedside companion for helping children practise telling the time before they go to bed and when they wake up. At just 12.5cm in diameter, these clocks are small enough to easily fit on a bedside table or nearby shelf and feature a built-in night light to add gentle glow to your child’s room.
Outdoor Clocks– our wall clock design has been supersized and strengthened to create an outdoor clock which enables you to take the time teaching outside – at school, on the farm, at an activity centre or in the garden. Whether you use it as part of an outdoor lesson on a sunny school day, or place it where children can use it to practise their own time telling abilities, this 38cm diameter black and white weatherproof clock is definitely up to the job.
A clear and easy to read face
As with anything that is trying to impart wisdom and knowledge, the information should be clear and easy to read and we took these key principles on board when designing our time teaching clocks. Born from the struggles we’ve had as parents getting our own children to learn to tell the time, our clocks feature either our 2-step ‘12 & 24 hour’ or our 3-step ‘past and to’ time teaching systems. Each system is simple to grasp and with the colourful, bold designs of our clock faces, all children need is a little practice and telling the time will soon come easily.
A clock that doesn’t tick!
As an adult you might find the ticking of a clock in your bedroom quite soothing, but do you really want to risk putting anything in your child’s room that might prevent them from sleeping? If you’re worried about the ticking of a clock disturbing your child, make sure you choose one with silent hands. Our range of clocks all come with silent, sweeping hands, so you can confidently place them in any room without risk of disturbance.
A teaching time clock that comes recommended
We can’t stress enough that when trying to help your child learn, you choose tools that have been endorsed by professionals or at least recommended by other parents. Our learning to tell the time clocks have achieved a number of awards over the years, including:
You can also find out what parents and grandparents have to say about our products by reading our reviews.
Telling the time is an important part of the KS1 and KS2 curriculum and anything that can make this learning experience easier and more enjoyable for children is welcomed by teachers and classroom assistants. We’ve recently launched our brand new catalogue outlining our teaching time clocks and resources for schools, so let’s look at some of the highlights.
School clocks
If you are looking for the perfect school clock for the whole class to use, look no further than our time teaching classroom clocks:
Available in a choice of our ‘Past & To’ and ‘12/24 Hour’ time teaching methods and with a blue and red or rainbow face, these clocks are the perfect addition to your classroom walls. Ideal to be used in conjunction with our TwinTime learning aids, these clocks have a large, clear face design to be easily seen across the classroom.
Playground clocks
Learning doesn’t have to stop at breaktime. With our playground clocks, children can practice telling the time whilst they are outside having fun, helping them to understand the concept of when playtime starts and ends. These robust, weatherproof clocks, with their toughened glass lens, feature the same simple time teaching system as our classroom clocks for great continuity of learning.
Teaching aids for telling the time
To make teaching time in the classroom more engaging we’ve designed these TwinTime classroom sets. Each set includes our popular time teaching classroom clock as well as teacher cards and student cards to enable students to practice their skills.
Learning to tell the time at your club
We also recognise that learning to tell the time is an important skill that can be developed in extra-curricular learning, at after school clubs and in the provision of private tutors as well as during activities at Rainbow, Beavers, Brownies and Cubs.
Our wall clocks, outdoor clocks and TwinTime teaching aids are perfect for helping children to learn and practice telling the time as part of your out of school activities.
We’re a family business dedicated to helping families and educators to make time teaching easier and more enjoyable. For over ten years we have been providing our products to parents, grandparents, schools and clubs around the world, helping to educate children and giving them confidence in reading the time. If you need any help in better understanding our products please get in touch with us.
From around the time your child starts school, they will begin learning how to tell the time. Not only is this a key part of their primary education, but it also helps them to grasp the concept of time and gives them confidence and independence.
If your child or grandchild is starting school this year you are probably looking for a kids first watch or clock or to help them tell the time more easily and we’ve got just the products you need!
Download our latest catalogue to browse our range of tell the time wall clocks and watches, suitable for children from around 4 years of age. All of our products feature our simple time teaching system and can help give your child confidence as they learn this important skill.
Best kids first watch to learn to tell the time
The best watches to help children learn to tell time are those that make it easy for them to distinguish between the minutes past and to or the hours in a 12 and 24 hour format.
With our time teaching watches you can choose from our ‘Past & To’ method or our ‘12/24 Hour’ method:
Choose from a rainbow or red and blue watch face and make a choice from our selection of strap colours and your kids first watch is ready to go.
For urban adventurers, or slightly older children who still need help telling the time but want something that looks a little cooler on their wrist, try our camo watches!
Again, you can choose from our ‘Past & To’ or ‘12/24 Hour’ time teaching method to suit your child’s needs and pick either a white or black face and colourful camo strap.
The time teaching shouldn’t stop just because you’re on holiday having fun, so upgrade your child’s time teaching watch to a waterproof one ready for summer splashing. These scratch resistant time teaching watches are waterproof to 50 metres and come with a blue or purple strap:
If your child is fixated on another colour, that’s no problem as we have a range of additional straps to choose from. With 14 different colours, there’s a strap for every mood!
Best wall clock to learn to tell the time
The best wall clocks to help children learn to tell the time are those that clearly display the numbers so they can be easily recognised from a distance. Our wall clocks feature a clear dial, brightly displayed numbers and of course a choice of our two simple time teaching methods ‘ Past & To’ and ‘12/24 Hour’.
We also have a range of alarm clocks to help children know when it’s time for bed and more importantly, when it’s time to wake up 😀.
If you’re looking for the perfect kids first watch, or the best wall clock to help the whole family tell the time, download our latest brochure and get in touch with us if you have any questions.
We often talk about the importance of learning outside the classroom and we’re big supporters of resources that help children to develop their maths skills at home. After a very disruptive 18 months, children need all the support they can get to help catch up on those lessons they have missed and with Christmas on the horizon (yes, it’s coming!), now is the perfect opportunity to research educational gifts such as our time teaching clocks.
Help the whole family stay on time
Whilst our wrist watches have always been popular festive presents due to the fact they can be bought for a child who is learning to tell the time at school, a teaching time clock is a gift that the whole family can benefit from. Hanging one of our clocks on the wall will not only support those children in your family who are learning to tell time, but they will also help younger children get used to the concept of time and looking at a clock, not to mention giving parents a clock face that can be easily read from a distance – priceless when all you get is a quick glance out of the corner of your eye to make sure the whole family is leaving the house on time!
Perfect in any room
A tell the time clock is a great accessory for your child’s bedroom but it can also be hung in the playroom, nursery, kitchen or hallway to ensure the whole family knows what time it is. Choose from our colourful rainbow face, striking red and blue face or plain white face to suit your home decor. Our wall clocks are 29 centimetres in diameter, made of durable plastic and take just one AA battery. They weigh 0.53kg, so are easy to hang and if you’re a multilingual household, you might be interested to know that our wall clocks are available in English, French and Spanish.
Simple time teaching methods
When you select the colour of your clock face you’ll also have a choice of our two simple time teaching systems:
Past and To – a 3-step system that encourages children to read the number at the end of the long hand, point to either the ‘past’ or ‘to’ side of the clock face and read the number at the end of the short hand.
12 & 24 Hour – a 2-step system that encourages children to read the number at the end of the short hand, then the number at the end of the long hand and put them together.
With regular practice, using a teaching time clock featuring one of the above systems, reading the time will become something your child does naturally and confidently. Please click here to find out more about our time teaching systems and watch our quick videos to find the right system for your child.
A teaching time clock with no noisy ticking!
One of the things we often get asked by parents is whether our clocks are too noisy for the bedroom. The answer is no, because they feature silent hands and therefore will not disrupt your child’s sleep.
If a teaching time clock sounds like the perfect educational present for a child on your Christmas gift list, click here to browse our full range and buy now to avoid any last minute shopping panic!
As we approach the end of another school year, it’s traditionally a time for teachers to think about the resources they will need ready for the start of the new academic year. If you’re a primary school teacher or headteacher then anything that can help children with maths skills should come as a welcome addition to your classrooms.
You may have read about our time teaching classroom clocks and resources recently as our products were featured in an article in Teachwire. This article explained the benefits of placing clocks in prominent positions around school to help children put their day into context – such as knowing how long it is until lunchtime and when they will be going home. A time teaching classroom clock is the perfect aid to help children learn to tell the time and gain confidence in their new found skill.
You may also have seen a review of our EasyRead Time Teacher classroom set in the Teach Primary Magazine. This review acknowledged the difficulties children can have in interpreting clocks, and summarised that our classroom set delivers a simple and effective way to help children learn to tell the time, thanks to the fact it:
Breaks time telling into simple steps
Uses thoughtfully designed and easy to use resources
Effortlessly addresses possible areas of confusion
Our time teaching classroom set, which includes one classroom clock, teacher clock card and student practice cards, comes in two sizes and starts from just £85. The teacher and student cards are perfect for teaching lessons about time, as they enable teachers to set a time and ask children to replicate it on their own cards, with space for them to also write in the analogue or digital time.
The key benefits of our classroom sets are:
Easy to handle clock face on student and teacher cards with moveable hands that stay where you want them.
Sturdy student cards that are difficult to bend or break.
Wipeable and santisable clock face on student and teacher cards.
Colourful, easy to read wall clock
If you are looking to take a straightforward approach with your time teaching lessons from September, or would like a time teaching clock to display on your wall, please get in touch with the team at EasyRead today to talk about our attractive and logical classroom resources and how they can support learning in your school.
Lockdown learning might have been fun the first time round, but the novelty is wearing off. Many parents are weary of homeschooling, and trying to juggle their own workload with supporting children in their learning. With the government announcing recently that it will be at least the second week in March before all children start going back to the classroom, parents need all the help they can get to make home learning easy. EasyRead is here to help – with a range of teaching time games and resources to complement what children are learning through their online lessons.
When will your child learn to tell the time at school?
Of course it will vary from school to school and class to class, but in general, children start learning about the time in Year 1, when they begin telling the time on analogue clocks to the hour and half hour. In Year 2 they will move on to telling the time in smaller increments – using quarter part and quarter to the hour and expressing time by drawing the hands on a clock face. In Key Stage 2, children will move on to telling and writing time in 12 and 24 hours, using roman numerals and comparing time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours, before moving on to digital clocks.
All of the resources and time teaching products at EasyRead have been developed by parents, for parents to help children who are learning to tell the time. They are endorsed by teachers and educational professionals as they support curriculum based learning, but also bring an element of fun – which of course makes the learning easier!
Teaching time games
Our Tell The Time Card Games are popular both at home and in the classroom and bring a competitive element to learning to tell time. You can play snap, bingo or pairs to name but a few, and of course the whole family can join in. Each pack contains 60 playing cards showing 15 different times of the day (4 of the same time), enabling children to have fun matching up and recognising the same time. There are also 2 levels of cards to choose from.
These teaching time games are ideal for use in those ‘free’ lessons where children can choose an educational activity, or for after school fun with the rest of the family.
Our TwinTime Cards have long been a popular teaching resource in schools. Made from high gloss write on wipe off PVC sheets, they enable teachers to configure the clock hands to a certain time and express in 12 and 24 hours or past and to format and for students to convert into the other on their own cards.
Just because children are learning at home and not in the classroom, doesn’t mean you can’t take on the role of teacher and challenge children to write the time and practice their time telling skills.
Make learning a rewarding experience with our Tell the Time Superstar stickers – free with every purchase of our TwinTime Cards this February!
Free resources for teaching time to kids
And for all those parents tearing their hair out over homeschooling, we have a range of free time teaching resources. Here’s EasyRead’s Sue Shackleton explaining how they work:
There are many things that we teach our children, whether it is supporting them through their learning at school or helping them to discover new interests at home. The one thing we are passionate about here at EasyRead is helping children to learn to tell the time. We have developed a time teaching system that is simple, easy to use and can have children telling the time quickly and confidently.
Teaching children about the concept of time
Whilst our products have been developed to help children to learn to tell the time, they can also support children in learning other important lessons and skills – such as when is the right time to go to bed and get up in the morning. Nothing does this better than our time teaching alarm clocks.
Our alarm clocks have been designed to help children to learn to tell the time and to be able to practice their skills before they go to bed and when they wake up in the morning.
Main features of our new time teaching alarm clocks
Featuring silent hands and a built in night light, our alarm clocks are the perfect companion to any bedside table and the crescendo alarm is the best way to wake sleepy heads up in the morning!
You can choose from one of our two time teaching methods:
Past and To – express time as minutes to and minutes past the hour – e.g. “10 minutes to four”
12 and 24 Hour – express time in numbers on a 24 hour clock – e.g. “three fifty”
You can also choose from a rainbow or red & blue clock face, to suit your child’s bedroom or colour preferences.
Our alarm clocks require 2 x AA batteries, which are not included, so just make sure you have some ready for when your clock arrives so your children can practice their time telling skills without delay.
What customers are saying about our alarm clocks
Our alarm clocks make the perfect learning resource for children who have recently started school:
“My grandson LOVES his clock. It glows softly at night and has a brighter light when needed. We don’t need the alarm at this time, but it works wonderfully. He is 5 and this has prompted him to begin asking questions about time. The size is perfect for his bedside shelf. I would recommend this clock to anyone with a young child getting ready to enter school.”
When will they be available?
From mid October 2020 our new look time teaching alarm clocks will be available to purchase in the UK, Europe and North America, following a successful relaunch in Australia in September.
Please click here to browse our alarm clocks and place your order.
After a long break due to the Coronavirus pandemic, schools are finally set to re-open in England and Wales from the start of September, ready for the autumn academic term. With such a long break from education for many children, it is going to be hard getting back into the routine of classroom learning and getting up early in the mornings ready for the school day ahead. That’s where our products can help.
At EasyRead our time teaching clocks and watches are the perfect back to school gift for young children who are learning to tell the time. Not only are they a great reference point to support classroom learning, but they can also help your child to keep track of the time during the school day – for example what time to get up, what time they need to be ready to leave and of course home time!
Let’s review some of our most popular products that can support your child to learn to tell the time:
Time Teaching Wall Clocks
If you are looking for a first clock for your child, then our EasyRead time teaching wall clocks tick all the boxes.
They are:
Clear and easy to read
Silent – no ticking hands
Feature our simple time teaching system – choose from the 24 hour or ‘past and to’ method
You can choose from a rainbow, white or red and blue face to accommodate your child’s preferences or the colour scheme of the room where you are going to hang the clock.
The best way to learn a new skill is to immerse yourself in it, so by wearing a watch your children can take time telling with them wherever they go.
Our time teacher watches are available in a wide range of colours, with a number of different strap styles to choose from including bright colours and camouflage designs. They are:
Battery operated
Available in water resistant or waterproof varieties
Designed to fit wrists from 12cm to 18cm in circumference
Our watches make the perfect back to school gift and we are sure your child will love showing off their new watch to their friends in the playground.
It’s not all about the hard work, learning to tell the time can also be a fun activity that all the family can enjoy. Who can resist a game of snap with our Tell The Time Cards?
The perfect after school game, our Tell the Time Cards let the learning continue in a fun, family oriented way.
Coming Soon – our time teaching alarm clocks
We’re delighted to announce that the wait is almost over, as our popular time teaching alarm clocks will be back in stock very soon. With silent hands and built in night light, our alarm clocks are the perfect bedside companion for little learners.
We also offer a range of teaching resources to help out in the classroom so please click here if you are a teacher looking for new ways to make time teaching fun.
Wishing you all a safe and happy return to school and we hope our products help to make learning a little easier.
If your experience has been anything like ours, home schooling our seven-year-old daughter during lockdown has consisted of snatched bursts of time in which to run quickly through the work that’s been set by school. And nowhere close to all the work that’s been set. Just a tiny scratch of the surface.
It hasn’t quite been the structured, focussed-yet-fun and harmonious ideal most of us hoped for when schools closed on 20th March.
But there are a few things I’m really pleased to say she’s mastered without being directed to by her class teacher.
She’s now a blur on two wheels since she graduated to a bigger bike when all this began.
By following an online program, she’s almost as quick as me at touch typing.
But most useful of all, is that she’s now able to tell the time.
As an ex-primary teacher, I know how difficult it is for kids to learn to tell the time. It’s a process that starts in year one and continues well into key stage two. At the start of lockdown, I put it at the top of my list of things we could try tackling together.
Trawling the internet for suitable resources, I found the printable teaching clock from EasyRead Time Teacher. After printing and cutting out the clock face and moveable hands, then sticking them on card, we were ready to go.
What I like about this clock is the extra information it gives. As well as the hour numbers, it shows the minute numbers around the edge, the past and to sides, as well as o’clock, half past, quarter past and to.
Most clocks, like the ones used in schools, show the hour numbers and divisions every five minutes. It’s complicated for children to count in fives, then ones, to work out how many minutes past or to it is. They get the two sides of the clock muddled up. They get the hands muddled up. Then they’re just getting it before it’s time to move on and start a new maths unit. So it’s back to square one months later, when time’s back on the timetable again.
I was intrigued by ERTT’s ‘3 steps to telling the time’, which was printed on the same sheet as the clock. The company claim that children can learn to tell the time in one lesson by following the steps. I was sceptical, but tried them out on my daughter nevertheless. They go like this:
Read the number at the end of the minute hand
See which side the minute hand is on: past or to
Read the number at the end of the short hand and put them altogether.
To our mutual amazement, she read the time straight away.
We tried another one and it was just as easy. There was a moment of silence as I tried to work out whether it should be that easy while she looked shocked that she’d found such a simple short cut.
We moved the hands to a few more positions and repeated the three steps, sure to find a glitch at some point. But a glitch was not forthcoming. It’s a fool-proof method and I still can’t work out why more schools haven’t adopted it yet.
My daughter was fizzing with a sense of achievement as she ran off, brandishing her clock, to show her Dad.
We’ve stuck the clock on the fridge and refer to it all the time. I make times on the clock for her to read or shout out times that she has to make by moving the hands. She likes copying the time from our kitchen clock and making it on her printed one.
Talking about quarters and halves came up naturally and I could see that she was gradually building up her understanding of how clocks work.
There were a few joyful light bulb moments. One of which was working out on her own that once the minute hand reaches 30, the minutes start counting backwards as the hand moves towards o’clock again.
I know that self-initiated discoveries like this lead to much ‘deeper’ learning than those prompted by a teacher. I’m glad she’s got to grips with time in her own way and at her own pace.
Our daughter is now the proud owner of a real ERTT clock, prominently displayed on her bedroom wall. She knows what time she’s going to bed and what time she wakes up. She and her little brother do timed 1-minute challenges – possible only because, unlike many kids’ clocks, this one has a hand that shows the seconds.
But I’m sure most parents would agree there are downsides to children knowing how to tell the time. Parents hold more cards when their little ones are oblivious to the time. Fancy getting the kids to bed earlier than usual? Forget about it. Saying you’ll play schools in five minutes, but it’ll actually be 20? That won’t wash either.
But on balance, the confidence and sense of control that comes from understanding time is worth losing a little downtime for. And if I really need it? Well the hands can be adjusted…
Helping children master telling the time is a brilliant thing parents can do during the long days at home.
If you’re not a teacher, knowing what to teach your children during home schooling can be baffling. There’s no better time to focus on an important life skill: telling the time.
With schools closed worldwide, parents find themselves thrust into the role of teacher—a role most feel poorly-equipped to inhabit. Most primary schools are advising parents to have fun with their children, try some of the ideas they suggest, but without expecting them to stick to a rigid schedule, make learning fun for everyone. At a time when we’re all struggling to get used to our new normal, parents need learning activities they can understand and feel confident sharing with their children.
Knowing how to tell the time is an important skill that not all children master by the time they leave primary school. In fact, one fifth of young adults struggle to tell the time on an analogue clock, relying on digital devices instead. But it’s no wonder. Teaching time to a class of thirty children with varying needs, strengths and attention spans is complex, and inevitably, curriculum pressures mean it’s time to move on before all children are secure. Most teachers would agree that if they could sit one to one with each child and teach at a pace that suits them, the journey to understanding analogue time would be easier, quicker and far more enjoyable for both student and teacher. Now seems like the perfect opportunity for parents to smooth their children’s time-telling journey.
Here at EasyRead time teacher (ERTT) we have developed a range of clock faces that make telling the time easier for children than using traditional clock faces. Alongside easy-to-read hour numbers, our clocks feature numbers for minutes past and to, as well as clearly-marked halves and quarters. This extra information means children have fewer hurdles to overcome to be successful time-readers. For parents, who may not have taught time before, having a clock that makes explaining analogue time easier is welcome.
ERTT’s three-step method makes things even easier: read the number at the end of the long hand, check whether it falls on the minutes past or to side, read the number at the end of the short hand. Job done. It’s not how time is traditionally taught but removing some of the obstacles means children get to the good bit faster and can build up their concepts from a position of accomplishment.
We are sharing some free resources for parents and children to use while schools are closed. Our clock face pdf can be printed out, stuck on card and sticky-tacked to a wall. Referring to the clock little and often will give children a regular learning experience that will help build competence and confidence. We are also sharing ideas on our social media channels for how parents can use their clock to boost their children’s time-telling skills. Every little helps and we hope this will be just what parents need with all this ‘time on their hands’!
