This Mystery Clock activity is a telling time game that makes a nice break from all those clock worksheets and is much, much more fun, not to mention a more effective way to help kids learn! Mystery Clock teaches kids to tell time by combining math and literacy in a game format. It actually has been many years, since I last did a game to teach telling time. Remember this telling time activity: time travel to the theater?
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I’d like to say I made up this brilliant game myself, but alas, no. The team behind new book, 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids know a thing or two about how to make learning fun. Kim Vij and Amanda Boyarshinov, the teachers who blog at The Educators’ Spin on It, have combined their expertise and created great games that parents can do at home with their kids.
They sent me a copy of their new book and I got caught up in reading it. It has so many wonderfully creative ideas to teach kids a variety of subjects from reading to geography. The main focus of the book is on activities for kids up through about 1st grade. That’s a big younger than my kids are but I knew they would love the Rock Clock Mystery game because it involved storytelling and math skills.
We did adapt the game and instead of using rocks, we had a bit of fun making number prints ahead of time. All the games in the book are very adaptable to your own situation.
Telling Time Game
Teaching kids to tell time is fun with a simple storytelling game.
What you need:
- 12 objects numbered 1-12. We used numbers we created as an art project earlier.
- 2 stick-like objects to represent the hands of the clock. We used craft sticks. Pencils would also work.
- Enthusiastic kids.
Instructions:
- Use the numbers and craft sticks to build your clock. You can do this on any flat surface.
- Set the sticks at any desired time.
- One child tells a short story that involves time.
For example:
George was late for school! School starts at 8:20 and he was already 40 minutes late. What time is it?
Or,
Petunia loved picking flowers. She started picking at 11:00 and picked for 20 minutes. She picked so many flowers that she started sneezing. Her sneezing lasted 1 hour! Poor Petunia. What time is it?
- The child to the right or left (clockwise or counter clockwise! Get it? Heh heh. ) moves the hands of the clock to show what time it is.
- If the child is correct, then it is his turn to make up a time story. If incorrect, then he must change the hands to show the correct time before starting the next story.
These instructions can be adapted and changed, depending on how your child responds, or how advanced their math skills.
Isn’t this time telling game a fun way to teach kids how to tell time? We had a great time making up especially silly and ridiculous stories. That’s just the sort of weird family we are.
You all know that I am very interested in making sure the activities I do with my kids are easy and Amanda and Kim’s book really has tons of ideas for parents like me. I liked that all of the games could be made as simple or as fancy as you like. Want to spend tons of time making a fancy clock? Go for it? Want to just scribble out a bunch of numbers on post its and grab a couple of pencils for the clock hands? That will work just as well and you will have just as much fun!
I know you will love the games and ideas in 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids as much as I do.
(Note: This activity has been reprinted with permission from the publisher from book 100 FUN & EASY LEARNING GAMES FOR KIDS. I have adapted this instructions for this blog post. I also received a review copy of the book.)
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