How to read a clock: teaching a child to tell time step by step

To read a clock, look at the short hour hand first for the hour, then at the long minute hand for the minutes. When you teach a child how to read a clock, go in small steps: o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to, then five-minute jumps. For the minute hand, each number means five minutes.

How to read a clock: which hand comes first?

The hour hand says roughly where we are in the day, and the minute hand says exactly. Reading both on the first day is a lot to hold, so begin with the hour hand and leave the minute hand on the 12.

Pick a clock with a plain face and big numbers from 1 to 12. If it has a second hand, cover or remove it for now, because a hand that sweeps around every minute pulls the eyes away from the other two.

1. Point to the short hand and say, “This is the hour hand. It tells us the hour.”
2. Say a time you know from the day: “At 7 o’clock we eat breakfast.” Move the hour hand to the 7.
3. Move the hour hand to a few other numbers and ask your child to name the hour.
4. Then show the long minute hand pointing straight up at the 12 and say, “When the long hand is on the 12, it is exactly that hour. 7 o’clock.”

Keep sessions to a few minutes. A paper plate with the numbers 1 to 12 written around the edge makes a good practice clock. Cut two hands of different lengths from cardboard and fix them to the middle with a brad fastener. Brads are small and sharp, so an adult should put the brad in and keep the box away from children under three. Then let your child do the moving.

How do I teach half past?

Once your child can read o’clock times, move the minute hand to the 6, so it points straight down. The hand has gone halfway around the clock, which is half an hour. “Half past 3” means half an hour after 3. The non-statutory guidance in England’s national curriculum for Year 1 follows the same order: “first using o’clock and then half past.”

Look at the hour hand with your child. It is no longer pointing at the 3. It has traveled about halfway toward the 4, because it moves slowly the whole hour. Tell your child: “The hour hand is between the 3 and the 4. The hour is still 3 because it has not reached the 4.” Expect to repeat this a few times, because it is an easy place to get mixed up.

The same time on a digital clock is 3:30. The number before the colon is the hour and the number after it is the minutes. You can show both forms side by side: set the paper plate to half past 3 and write 3:30 next to it.

What do quarter past and quarter to mean?

A quarter is one of four equal parts. A pizza cut into four slices gives quarters, and so does a clock. The minute hand travels a quarter of the way around when it moves from the 12 to the 3.

• Quarter past: the minute hand is on the 3. Quarter past 4 is 4:15. The hour hand has just moved a little past the 4.
• Half past: the minute hand is on the 6. Half past 4 is 4:30.
• Quarter to: the minute hand is on the 9. Quarter to 5 is 4:45. The hour hand is nearly at the 5, and the hour on a digital clock still reads 4.

England’s national curriculum uses the words “half past” and “quarter past/to.” In the US you will also hear “three thirty” or “four fifteen.” Both are ways to say the same time, so let your child learn both.

How do the numbers turn into minutes?

The numbers on the face run from 1 to 12, but the minute hand counts to 60, so each number means something different for each hand. For the minute hand, each number is a jump of 5 minutes: the 1 is 5 minutes, the 2 is 10, the 3 is 15, and so on to the 12, which is 0 or 60.

Counting by 5s is the skill that makes this work. Point to each number as you count: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Practice that on its own before it goes onto the clock. Our guide to skip counting shows how, with hands and coins.

1. Set the minute hand on the 4. Count by 5s as you touch each number: 5, 10, 15, 20. It is 20 minutes past.
2. Put the hour hand just past the 2 and say, “So it is 2:20.”
3. Repeat with the minute hand on the 7 (35 minutes), the 8 (40) and the 10 (50).
4. Show the little tick marks between the numbers. They are single minutes. Leave them alone until five-minute times feel easy.

Times on the left half of the clock can also be read as minutes to the next hour. That takes an extra step, so start with minutes past. Quarter to is a good bridge: the hand on the 9 means 45 minutes past, or 15 minutes before the next hour.

Should my child learn analog or digital first?

The US Common Core standard for Grade 1 asks children to “tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.” It names both and does not rank them.

Digital times are quick to read, because the numbers are already there. An analog face shows how much of the hour is gone and how much is left, which a digital display hides. Some families use both for a while. Put a digital clock in the kitchen and an analog clock in the hall, and ask your child to match the two when you check on the time. Our free analog clock shows both at once and lets your child turn the hands.

What do schools expect, and when?

The US and England set slightly different expectations.

• United States (Common Core): Grade 1 asks for time in hours and half-hours, on analog and digital clocks (standard 1.MD.B.3). Grade 2 asks for time “to the nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m.” (standard 2.MD.C.7). Grade 2 also asks children to “skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s,” and counting by 5s is how the minute hand is read.
• England (national curriculum): Year 1 is “the hour and half past the hour,” with drawing the hands on a clock face. Year 2 is “to five minutes, including quarter past/to the hour.”

These are goals for the school year, not deadlines for your child. Our first grade and second grade curriculum pages show where telling time sits among the other topics.

How can we practice in daily life?

Short practice with the clocks already in your home fits around family routines.

• Ask, “What does the clock say?” at set times, such as when you leave for school or when dinner starts. Start with o’clock and half past times only.
• Make a small schedule with your child: “Bath at half past 6.” Let them tell you when the clock reaches it.
• Set the paper plate clock to a time, say “quarter past 5,” and let your child move the hands to match. Then swap: you move, they read.
• Count by 5s around the clock face whenever you pass a clock.
• Skip counting by 5s also helps with coins. Our free Coin Shop game practices counting nickels and other coins.

If your child still mixes up the hands after several weeks of calm practice, talk to their teacher. Some children take longer with this skill, and the teacher can see which part is the sticking point.