Coffee Cups and Crayons

Simple play ideas, learning activities, kids crafts and party ideas, plus acts of kindness for kids!

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Kindness
  • Busy Bags
  • Science Experiments
  • Free Printables
  • Shop
    • Cart

May 30, 2016

Teach Kids How to Tell Time

72 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

In the age of electronic everything telling time can be a hard skill for kids to master. Anything that can make teaching how to tell time fun is a sure winner–which is why we love this rock clock activity so much.

It’s so much easier to understand the concepts of time and elapsed time with hands on exploration!

Teach Kids How to Tell Time with a Rock Clock! A fun and easy way to work on telling time!

(affiliate links included below)

This hands-on math activity is inspired by the new book 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids by Amanda Boyarshinov and Kim Vij. We love all of the fun kids activities they share on The Educators’ Spin On It so knew their book would be amazing.

I asked for a review copy so I could preview it and share it with you and my kids and I just adore it. The learning activities are doable and fun and the pages are colorful and inviting. It’s the kind of book kids will be asking you to get out again and again.

100 Learning Games Front Cover

Want your own copy of the book? Click here to order–> 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids

How to Tell Time with a Rock Clock

This activity has been reprinted with permission from the publisher from book 100 FUN & EASY LEARNING GAMES FOR KIDS.

  • 12 rocks
  • paint (acrylic works well)
  • paintbrushes
  • 2 sticks

Gather 12 rocks of about the same size and paint them if you or your kids would like the rock clock to be colorful. Then paint the numbers 1 through 12 on the rocks to represent each of the numbers on the face of a clock. Allow the rocks to dry overnight.

How to Make a Clock to Teach Time

Use the rocks to build a clock in the shape of a circle on a flat surface. Set the sticks in the middle to use as the hour and minute hands. Ask one child to ask a story problem for another to answer using the clock.

An example of a story problem would be something like, “I got home from school and went in the pool at 3:00. I swam for an hour and got out. What time did I get out of the pool?”

The player to the right uses the hands of the rock clock to show the answer. If correct, then he gets to make up the next time story problem. If incorrect, he must change the hands on the clock to show the correct time before telling the next story.

A fun and hands on way to teach kids how to tell time--with a rock clock!

 More ways to play with the rock clock:

  1. Set the hour and minute hands on the clock. Act out something you would typically do at that time of day.
  2. Have one player call out a time and another player shows that time on the rock clock.
  3. Mix up the rocks and race to rebuild the rock clock.

If you love the rock clock activity don’t forget to order 100 Fun and Easy Learning Games and Activities for Kids!

For more telling time ideas for kids try our Huge Outdoor Clock Activity for Kids too:

Telling Time Practice Games on an Outdoor Clock!

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

A Simple Way to Save Money on Vacation
Volcano Science Experiment

Trackbacks

  1. 7 Time-Telling Fun Hands-On Time Activities | Simple Watch Craft says:
    April 22, 2024 at 8:02 am

    […] use of the free resources in the yard like rocks by creating a Rock Clock and teach kids how to tell time with a creative […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

AWESOME IDEAS MADE EASY!

So you can have fun and still have time to finish your coffee!

Join over 10,000 parents who use our newsletter to connect with their kids through fun activities even when they're short on time.

Megan from Coffee Cups and Crayons

Looking for Something?

  • About
  • Copyright and Terms of Use
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
  • My Account

Copyright © 2025 · Website Design By Jumping Jax Designs

72 shares