Telling time
How do you teach your kids to read the clock, teach them about telling time? I tried to explain the concept to my son by drawing, but I thought an animation would be very helpful. I looked around on the web, but I found most videos too complicated or too fast.
Telling time animation
I decided to make a very simple animation of an analog clock that spanned 24 hours. It goes without saying that the small hand goes around twice. During the first round the numbers 1-12 are highlighted, and during the second round the numbers 13-23 appear. At the same time the large hand goes around faster, so you very clearly see how the two hands are related. Very simple really, it’s all the kids need to know initially.
In addition, key time points are indicated, with the following symbols:
- night (moon)
- sunrise
- getting up, breakfast (sandwich)
- morning snack (apple)
- lunch (sandwich)
- afternoon snack (lemonade)
- dinner (plate with fish)
- going to bed (bed)
- sunset
The background colour changes with the time, so it’s dark at night, changes to light blue and bright yellow, and back to dark blue at night.
Soo.. I’m clearly not a professional animator, but I had fun making this movie! I’m afraid the video compression makes the animation appear a bit clumsy, but in essence all relevant information is there. It certainly helped my son (or so he claims..).
Good luck teaching your kids! If you would like more clock-themed educational tools: I’ve also made a colouring sheet with a clock, so kids can get familiar with the clock while colouring the 12 sections of the hours.
PS Please have a look at the overview of the year as well, which nicely relates the weeks, months and season to the year. Have fun!
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