How to teach telling time on an analog clock

Why analog clocks are hard for children

An analog clock asks a child to do several things at once. Two hands point at the same ring of numbers but mean different things. The number 3 means three o'clock for the short hand and 15 minutes for the long hand. Minutes count by fives even though the numbers go up by ones. And the hour hand moves slowly between numbers, so at 2:50 it sits almost on the 3.

Breaking those ideas apart, and teaching them one at a time, is what makes the difference. A real clock with gears, where moving the minute hand also moves the hour hand, is much better for teaching than a toy clock where the hands move separately.

Step 1: the hour hand on its own

Take the minute hand off a cheap clock, or cover it with tape, and teach with the hour hand only. Ask "What time is it about?" When the hand points right at 4, it is four o'clock. When it is halfway between 4 and 5, it is "after four, about halfway to five". When it is nearly at 5, it is "almost five".

This sounds too simple, but it builds the idea that the hour is decided by the short hand and that the short hand is always on its way to the next number. Most later mistakes come from skipping this step.

Step 2: o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to

Now put the minute hand back. Begin with o'clock: minute hand straight up at 12, hour hand on the number. Then half past: minute hand straight down at 6, hour hand halfway between two numbers. Link this to fractions the child may know: the minute hand has gone half of the way around.

Quarter past and quarter to come next. Shade the clock face like a pizza cut into four. Quarter past is a quarter of the way around (the minute hand on 3). Quarter to means a quarter of an hour is left before the next hour (the minute hand on 9).

Notice the last row. At 4:45 the hour hand is closer to 5 than to 4, and we say "quarter to five". That is exactly the point where children start reading the hour wrong, which is why step 1 matters.

Step 3: counting by fives, then to the minute

Once the landmarks are secure, teach the minute hand as a skip counting job. Starting at 12, count by fives around the clock: 5, 10, 15, up to 55 and back to 60 at the 12. Write the multiples of five on small sticky notes just outside each number for the first week, then remove them one by one.

Reading to the nearest minute is the last step: count by fives to the number just before the minute hand, then count the small marks one at a time. A minute hand two marks past the 8 is 40 + 2 = 42 minutes.

Our Grade 1 and Grade 2 measurement worksheets include short clock-reading questions with answer keys, which are handy for checking one step at a time.

Step 4: elapsed time and units of time

Elapsed time questions ask how long something takes: "Swimming starts at 9:45 and ends at 11:20. How long is it?" Subtracting 11:20 minus 9:45 as if they were ordinary numbers gives the wrong answer, because an hour has 60 minutes, not 100. A number line avoids the trap.

Converting between hours and minutes uses the same fact. Two hours and 25 minutes is 2 × 60 + 25 = 145 minutes. The hours and minutes guide has a short worked explanation, and the Grade 3 measurement worksheets include elapsed time problems written with the 24-hour clock, where 13:35 means 1:35 p.m.

What grade should a child be able to tell time?

There is no single answer, because curricula differ. The table compares two published examples. In Canada, look up your own province's mathematics curriculum, or ask the teacher which unit is coming.

The British Columbia Grade 4 content includes telling time with analog and digital clocks, 12-hour and 24-hour clocks, a.m. and p.m., minutes in an hour, half past and quarter to, five-minute intervals and the nearest minute. In practice, many children meet clocks earlier at home and in class, so the steps above work at any age.

Common confusions and quick fixes

Most errors fall into a few patterns. Spotting which one your child is making tells you which step to revisit.

• Reading the hour too early. At 2:50 the child says 3:50. Go back to the hour hand alone and ask, "Has it reached 3 yet?"
• Reading the number, not the minutes. The minute hand is on 4 and the child says "4 minutes". Bring back the five-times sticky notes.
• Mixing up the hands. Colour the hour hand and the hour numbers red and the minute hand and minute labels blue for a week.
• "Quarter to" makes no sense. Practise with real events: "It is quarter to six, so dinner is in 15 minutes."
• Subtracting times like ordinary numbers. Use the number line for every elapsed time problem until the child does it in their head.

Five minutes a day with a real clock works better than a long worksheet. Ask "What time is it?" at natural moments, such as leaving for school or starting a show, and let the child read the kitchen clock. For other skills that build on counting by fives, see the multiplication facts practice plan.