Tips to help you teach your child how to watch the clock and read the time quickly

As your child grows up, your child will begin to learn about the world around them by observing and learning from their parents. It is during this period that parents should familiarize children with the concept of time. However, teaching a child how to watch the clock and read the time is one of the challenges that is not simple for any parent.

In fact, despite being able to perceive day and night based on environmental changes, children still have not fully grasped the nature of time. In order to teach children how to watch watches, aFamilyToday Health invites you to learn more in this article!

When should you start introducing the concept of time to your child?

The first years of life are the time when children learn and learn about the world around them by themselves. During this time, by learning from parents and those around them, children will supplement themselves with many different essential skills . However, understanding and grasping how to watch the clock as well as thinking about time is not something children can learn by themselves, but it requires parental guidance.

As a child, children are often not very familiar with the concept of time, for example still not knowing how much time it takes to complete a task or to travel from one place to another. You have probably been in the same situation, when your whole family goes somewhere, children wonder how long it will take to arrive, even though their parents have replied that the trip will take about 1 hour. . This problem occurs because the baby is still unable to estimate the time for himself.

As your child grows and everyday activities begin to become a part of their lives, they will gradually understand how time works in their own lives. From preparing to school, to playing a video game, each will help your child understand a little more about time. At the same time, parents need to teach children how to read the clock so they can manage their daily time .

The secret to teaching children how to watch the clock or how to read the time

Many parents often make the mistake of teaching their children how to watch the clock and read the time, making them confused when they first get used to it. If you teach your child how to read time such as teaching math or studying science subjects, he or she will be difficult to absorb. Ideally, you should familiarize your baby with basics such as counting numbers, how to convert hours, minutes, and seconds before combining these concepts together, then teaching your child how to read the time on the clock. .

1. Teach your child how to count numbers

You should teach your child to be clocked when they are able to proficient in counting. If your child is still not familiar with counting, you can help him get used to and count numbers smoothly through everyday familiar things around him. For example, you could count the number of fruits to buy when going to the supermarket or count the number of shirts that mother and daughter fold together. In this way, children will approach numbers more easily. At first, you should teach your child to count from 1 to 10. Once your child has counted to 10, you can start teaching your child to count continuously to 60. This may take a little time, parents should be patient rings until your baby can count exactly 1 to 60 at a time.

As you know, the clock usually does not show 60 minutes but only multiples of 5, runs from 1 to 12. So when your child is able to fully count to 60, start working with your child to divide 5 consecutive numbers into small groups. This will allow your child to get used to and visualize how to put 5 consecutive numbers from 1 to 60 into a group. Each group is then assigned a number, which forms numbers on the clock.

2. Get used to the sessions of the day

Conventional clocks only show 12 hours a day. Therefore, it may be confusing for children to distinguish between 2:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. Instead of teaching your child right away about detailed timing, start by helping your child perceive the concept of the day we often talk about when talking.

In the first phase, you can start with the simplest 2 sessions, morning and evening. Then expand to mornings, noon, afternoon, evening, and night. These sessions can be identified by children through activities that occur every day, such as brushing teeth in the morning, having lunch at noon, playing at night, and sleeping at night. Gradually and steadily like that, you can teach your child more about the early morning or late afternoon, thereby helping children to realize the concept of the day.

3. Make a manual clock at home

Instead of buying a watch for your child, parents can make a simple handmade watch at home with their baby. All you need is a plate of paper, brushes and small popsicles to make clock hands.

As a first step, help your child mark the 12 o'clock position with a pencil on the paper plate and write the number “1” for them. Then let your child fill in the remaining numbers and complete the circle with the number “12”. Now help your child reminisce about dividing 5 numbers in a row into groups and ask your child to draw small lines between the 2 numbers already on the plate so that the 5 line always matches the number available. This will also be challenging for children as they need to divide them into equal parts. With a homemade watch in hand, attach two more popsicles of different short lengths, drilled holes and stitched together so that they spin around like the hour and minute hands of a real watch.

4. Use the timing examples

Use your child's school timetable or TV schedule and use it as an example of time. When you are just getting acquainted, let your baby start with zero minutes, for example 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours ... Initially, parents should set the minute hand at 12 and let your baby self-adjusting hour hand. Once you get used to it, parents can place the needles in any position and ask your baby to turn the needle back to the correct position.

In this way, your baby will initially grasp the concept of time more easily. Many parents even use electronic clocks and compare two clocks to help their baby better understand them.

5. Learn about minutes and seconds

Dần dần theo thời gian, con bạn có thể đọc được giờ đúng cũng như biết rõ về tỷ lệ chia trên đồng hồ. Bây giờ, đã đến lúc trẻ cần hiểu về mối quan hệ giữa mỗi nhóm số với toàn bộ 60 phút và sự đồng bộ giữa kim giây với kim phút. Trong giai đoạn này, bạn không nên đi quá chi tiết về cách quy đổi thời gian, vì chúng có thể gây rối cho bé. Chỉ cần để trẻ biết rằng khi kim giây quay được một vòng thì kim phút sẽ dịch 1 lần và khi kim phút quay được một vòng thì kim giờ sẽ dịch chuyển tới số lớn hơn liền kề trên đồng hồ.

As an adult, we take the concept of time and take clocks as an obvious act and execute them unconsciously. We hardly remember how we learned about time as children. However, teaching children how to read the time is not easy and requires the right method. Parents can apply some simple ways that aFamilyToday Health has introduced to help their children become more familiar with the concept of time.