Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Homeschool Math: Time-Telling Addition and Recording Activity

Will LOVES dice (In her free time, she and I roll D&D characters for her, so yeah... dice), so to help her learn those pesky time-telling skills that seem so non-intuitive in this age when analog clocks are NOT ubiquitous, I created this activity in which she can "roll" a time the way she rolls a D&D character:

You will need:
On the blank six-sided die, I took a black Sharpie and wrote the following times:
  1. :00
  2. :10
  3. :20
  4. :30
  5. :40
  6. :50
OPTIONAL: To make this easier, make yourself a blank four-sided die (you could print a triangular pyramid net onto cardstock, then assemble it), and label it like this:
  1. :00
  2. :15
  3. :30
  4. :45
The easiest way to have a kid roll a time is to give her the 12-sided die and the six-sided die. Let her roll both at the same time, and use the 12-sided die to record the hour and the six-sided die to record the minutes.

To practice telling time to the minute, roll a 12-sided die, a six-sided die, and a 10-sided die. Use the 12-sided die to record the hour, then add the 10-sided die to the six-sided die to record the minutes.

To practice telling time to the minute AND mental two-digit arithmetic, roll a 12-sided die, a six-sided die, and a 20-sided die:


Use the 12-sided die to record the hour, then add the 20-sided die to the six-sided die to record the minutes:

To practice calculating elapsed time, do this twice, then figure out the elapsed time between the two.

Then, to see if you REALLY learned it, teach Daddy! 

Will can do all of this pretty handily now, and it actually is paying off, in that she can tell the time at the public library and our weekly volunteer gig, the only two places that we visit that have analog clocks on display. 

I guess I'm now on the lookout for a secondhand analog clock!

3 comments:

  1. TinaOctober 9, 2013 at 2:28 PM

    What a fun way to learn to tell time!

    We have always had more analog clocks then digital for whatever reason. We actually have a pretty big clock that has lived in the main part of our houses ever since Emma was little. I can't remember when she started asking questions about it, but she seems to have a pretty good grasp of the time, though she will sometimes run into the bedroom to look at the digital clock just to be brain lazy.

    I love the steady tick of an analog clock. Sounds like home to me.

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  2. julieOctober 10, 2013 at 9:44 AM

    Our only "real" clock in the house is a digital clock in our living room that tells the time by pushing pins in and out with a magnet to form the numbers. I'm thinking of buying or thrifting clock works, however, and having the girls design and craft analog clocks as part of our time telling studies. Then we'll have our own!

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  3. TinaOctober 10, 2013 at 4:19 PM

    Your clock sounds complicated, but cool!

    I participated in a Crafters swap a long time ago where we crafted and swapped clocks. Emma got an AWESOME horse clock out of the deal. It was actually a lot of fun making the clocks from thrift store clocks. Our analog clock in the bathroom is on it's last leg (the hour hand lags way behind), so we might have to look for a "new" one ourselves.

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