Learning Time

A toy clock with hands your child can turn is the most direct way to make time something to see and touch. You will find wooden teaching clocks, a time-telling box set, a calendar board and magnetic fraction clocks for children from ages 3+ up to the first years of school.

A first clock for ages 3 to 4

At this age the goal is not reading the exact time but noticing that the clock moves with the day. The eco-friendly model for ages 3+ is a good first choice: set the hands to breakfast, park or bath time and let your child move them on to the next event. The memory and language matching cards go well with it, to build the words your child needs to talk about their day.

Teaching clocks for ages 5 and up

From 5, children are ready for o'clock and half past, then quarter past and quarter to. The red and blue clock suits this stage: turn its hands to practise each step and to point out the short hand for hours and the long one for minutes. The box set adds pieces to work through step by step, and the calendar board, one of the classic wooden Montessori toys for daily routines, links the time to the day and the date.

Halves, quarters and fractions, from 6

The set of two magnetic clocks puts a time clock next to a fraction clock, so “half past” and “a quarter” mean the same slice in both. It suits children who already count to 60 and want to understand why a quarter of an hour is 15 minutes.

A routine that works well at home: keep the clock where your child can reach it and, once a day, ask them to set the time of the next meal. When the meal arrives, check together whether the kitchen clock agrees.