Party Time!

Free printable: Students design a party invitation! Hang their party invitations up around the room. Then the students choose 10 parties they would like to attend. They write down the party name or the name of the student who created each invitation. Next to the name they record, they write when each party starts and ends. Then they write how long each party is (elapsed time). Click here for the printable, which includes clocks on the invitation to help students practice telling time. For more hands-on telling time activities click here to see my post at We Are Teachers.

Time Beads

Make a fashion statement by creating a portable time bead necklace! Kids can practice telling time wherever they go! Plus, they can flip over their numeral beads to help them tell minutes on an analog clock. The small beads help them figure out exactly what the minute hand is on. They just count and slide!

materials: yarn, plastic beads, construction paper, markers, and pipe cleaners

Numeral paper beads: Cut 24 squares or rectangles out of construction paper. Write numerals on them (1-12) and (00-55 - counting by fives). Staple the squares that match back to back (12 and 00), so you can string it on your necklace. 

Necklace: Alternate stringing your paper number beads and your plastic beads. Once beads are strung, tie a knot to make a necklace.

For the hands, use pipe cleaners or anything else you can find! If you're at a restaurant, grab 2 straws! Kids lay their clock on a flat surface and create a time on their clock. Then, they figure out what time they created! They can cheat and peek, if they're not sure what the minute hand is on.

1 minute

What Can You Do In One Minute? This activity is from Mixing in Math! When introducing time to kids, explore 60 seconds. Have them choose three activities (example: drawing stars, jumping jacks, hopping on one leg, etc.) Then, have them estimate how many they can do in one minute. Did anyone choose the same activity? How did their score compare? What activity could they do the most of? Which activity did they do the least of?

For older kids, have them do 5 activities. Then, have them find the mean, median, mode, and range. They use their score for each activity. (Example: 60 hops, 50 stars, 40 jumping jacks, etc.) They find the m,m,m,and r of 60, 50, 40.....

- or - Choose one activity for the entire class to do in one minute. Then, write their scores on the board and have them figure out the m,m,m, and range.

What time is it?!

Fun, telling time activity from Chalk and Slate! First, kids design paper watches (bands for their analog clock). While they're creating their bands, the teacher writes different times on pieces of scrap paper (one for each student) and tosses the times in a paper lunch bag. Kids pull out a time, without showing it to anybody! Next, the teacher passes out miniature, blank analog clocks. Kids draw hands on their clocks (to show their time), tape it on the band they created, and sport it on their wrist. Now the fun begins! Each child gets a piece of paper with their classmates' names typed on it, with a line next to each name. Children go around the room and ask each other "What time is it?!" The peer they ask shows them his/her watch, without saying the time. The child writes down the time that each one of his/her peers have on their watch. Could they tell the right time? Check out the activity in action over at Chalk and Slate!

Click here for a time printable! Kids record 3 activities that they did! - when they began the activity and when the activity ended.

I SPY Time

Read the room activity from What the Teacher Wants! Kids hunt around the room for the correct time. Visit her site for a free recording sheet, clock templates, and many more time games!

Dream Vacation PBL Project

Project-based learning / cooperative groups of 4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ncaWHZVTZPksE3TFNv865VtZucQkse0-/view?usp=sharing

Tell kids that they get to travel to any destination around the world! The only catch is that they will be going with 3 other classmates (only 1 destination) for 4 days and 3 nights.

Once they decide on a location, they all get an air ticket, which they fill out for their flight. The teacher cuts it and collects their boarding passes. They keep their ticket and attach it to their photo journal (a travel book they make throughout the process).

Next they research the weather forecast for the 4 days they are going so they know what to pack. Then they come up with a list of items that they should bring with them. Once again students must collaborate and decide what to pack. Each group has 1 photo journal (not each individual student). Students take turns drawing / recording in it. 

Then they research a place to stay, record the cost / research places to eat, record the cost / research things to explore, record the cost (+ the cost of traveling there: taxi, bus, rental car, etc.). The research process is the imaginary vacation!

At the end of this project compare what groups spent. Who was money savvy and found cheap lodging, food and entertainment? Who was a big spender and wanted the best of everything?!

Now Showing!

Practice telling time while looking up a movie you'd like to see! Have kids find a movie online or in the newspaper. They choose a time that the movie is playing. Next, they draw the starting and ending time on an analog clock, as well as on a digital clock. They record the duration of the movie (the total number of hours and minutes). Then, they design a poster for the flick! Afterwards, they find two other movies and record the time and duration. The other two movies must be different and none of the movies can share the same time. Have kids compare their movie choices. Did anyone choose the same flick? As a class, make a graph of the movies the kids chose. What movie was the most popular? 

Click here for the free printable: https://drive.google.com/file/d/106RIoF0l5CoFKkcn9uihN8qL8AAswVLg/view?usp=sharing

Fractions of Time

I created fraction puzzle pieces to help kids understand the parts of an hour. This is a great activity for visual learners. They can see thirty minutes is half of an hour and fifteen minutes make up a quarter of an hour. Also, kids can see that two quarters equal one half as they play around with the pieces.

Time Teller - Lift and Peek

Loved Mrs. Madden's paper plate clock, so I made one - great for visual learners. Grab two paper plates, count every 4 to 5 notches (indentions in the plate) and make your cuts. Write your hours numbers in between the cut notches. Then, take your second plate and hold it underneath your hours plate. Make marks to indicate where your number should be. Once, your plate is marked, choose another marker color and add your numbers by your pencil marks. Stack your plates, hours on top and make a hole for your fastener. Create colorful clock hands (matching hours and minutes), attach hands with your fastener and presto - a time teller cheat and peek!


Kids can take a peek if they forget how to read minutes. For example, the minutes hand falls on the 3. They lift up the flap and see the number 15 (3 x 5 = 15). The minutes hand is on 15. 

HOP the Clock

Get kids out of the classroom to hop and tell time on the blacktop! Draw small circles within an extra large imaginary circle in the format of an analog clock. Then, call out two kids' names, give one a number to represent hours and the other minutes. Have them hop on the number. Once, they get the thumbs up, have them create the time, each taking on the role of clock hands, by laying down on the imaginary clock. After each person in the class has had a turn, switch off and give the hours kids minutes and vice versa.

Time Tag!

Fun, interactive game for kids to practice telling time, while conversing with all of their classmates. Kids call out the time they have. Then, they ask who has __:__? The kid with the called out time is tagged. Then, he / she continues the cycle. How fast can you go? Kids work together as a team, racing around the clock! Download playing cards for the game over at A First Grade Teacher's Passions and Obsessions!

Time For...

Baseball practice, dance team, watching Shake it Up on the tube, eating a banana, write down activities you take part in and draw the time they begin and end on an analog clock. This is a fun project for kids to practice telling time!

Kids' Take Home Project: write down an activity, draw the time it starts and ends on an analog clock, and record the duration of the activity. Kids record three activities. Then, they bring it back to class and compare their activities with one another. Did anybody do the same thing? If so, did it take the same amount of time?

Musical Clocks

boombox via hype beast: Lyle Owerko boombox project

Over at What the Teacher Wants, they turned up the beat, jammed to tunes, and practiced telling time! Give each child a blank clock and digital clock. Have kids write a time inside the digital clock boxes. Turn on the music and encourage kids to dance around the room (like musical chairs). When the music stops, kids have to draw hands on the clock they land on, matching the time to their classmate's digital clock. The teacher checks the clocks. Then, the next round begins. Click here for a free printable!

Also, check out What's the Teacher Wants I SPY Time game - includes a freebie!