Teaching Telling the Time at KS1 and KS2

“What time is it?”

There’s probably not a day that goes by where we don’t ask ourselves (or someone else) this question. If we didn’t know how to answer it, we’d be late to work, would miss our favourite TV shows and would have no idea how long it takes us to do anything…

Telling the time is an important life skill that’s taught early on at school. Read on to find out exactly how and when it’s covered in the KS1 and KS2 Maths National Curriculum and for some great ways to help teach it.
 

Learning to tell the time

By the end of Year 4, children will have been taught how to read the time from a variety of clocks and to convert between the common ways we see time written in every day. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s taught when:

• Year 1 — Children are taught to tell the time to the hour and half past the hour. They will also be challenged to draw the hands on a clock to show these times.
• Year 2 — Children are taught to tell the time to quarter past and quarter to the hour, then to five minutes (i.e. any time where the minute hand is pointing to a number on the clock). Again, they should be able to add the hands to a clock face to show these times.
• Year 3 — Children are taught to tell and write the time from analogue, 12-hour and 24-hour clocks, including analogue clocks where the numbers are shown in Roman numerals. They’ll be tasked with reading time to the nearest minute and using standard time vocabulary, such as ‘o’clock’, ‘am’ and ‘pm’.
• Year 4 — By the end of the year, children will be able to read, write and convert between analogue and digital clocks (both 12- and 24-hour).

If you’d like to see the telling the time worksheets and other resources we have for each year, click the links in the text above. Alternatively, keep reading for a pick of our favourite telling the time activities, including our online interactive games.
 

Ways to teach telling the time for KS1

Here are some of our top activities and suggestions for teaching telling the time to KS1 pupils:

• In this Telling the Time video, children are introduced to the hands of the clock and how they are used to show o’clock and half past the hour times.
• These worksheets are perfect for practising drawing the hands on a clock — there’s one for o’clock times, half past times and quarter past/to times.
• Have a go at playing time bingo! For 2-4 players, these games get children to search for the clock face on their bingo card that matches the time called out. There’s a different game designed specifically for Year 1 and Year 2 (plus a foundation version for Year 2 pupils who find it a bit tricky).
• Try this telling the time game for pairs. Each player takes a turn to roll a dice to pick a clock they must correctly read the time from. It’s currently available for FREE.
• Making simple movable clock faces out of card and a split pin (to hold the hands to the face) is a good way to provide children with a visual aid for tackling telling the time questions.
• You could also think of other ways for children to show you a given time. For example, if you ask the class “What does the clock look like at a quarter to five?”, they could answer by using their arms as the hands of the clock!

Ways to teach telling the time for KS2

Here are some of our top activities and suggestions for teaching telling the time for KS2 pupils:

• These videos for telling the time using 12-hour clocks, 24-hour clocks and for converting between clock formats all introduce the important concepts and feature a short quiz at the end.
• Year 3 pupils can practise comparing or ordering times shown in different formats with these ordering time cards. They can be used by individuals, pairs or small groups.
• Try these telling the time dominoes for Year 4 children. Working in small groups, pupils must put the domino cards showing times in different formats together to form a chain. Different groups can compete to see who can complete the chain the fastest.
• There are even more games to play with these matching time card games for Year 4.
• Why not use these time vocabulary and 24-hour time cards to make a board display on the topic of time?
• At any point in the day, you could ask a volunteer to read the time from the class clock — using a variety of clocks (e.g. an analogue clock on the wall and a digital 24-hour clock on your IWB) will give even more practice.

Telling the time online games

Last — but definitely not least — we have our online telling the time games. These have been designed so that you can cater the questions asked to your class’s needs.

There are levels for each of the major skills covered at KS1 and KS2, from reading o’clock and half past the hour times to matching 24-hour clock times to analogue clock faces. Whichever level you choose, your class will be faced with 10 randomised questions and some fabulously fun animations.

Take your pick from the different time-telling games — there’s Goose on the Loose, Outback Clocks and Get Your Skates On.

Time’s up! That about sums it up for teaching telling the time at KS1 and KS2. Don’t forget to let us know what you think of our resources by leaving a review or comment. Thanks for reading!