Telling Time basics for kids

How to we talk about time in English?

We can break the day up into parts:

morning
afternoon
evening
night
sunrise
sun set
midnight
midday or noon

Your turn! Can you match the parts of the day?

When we want to be more specific, we use a clock.

We break time up into HOURS and MINUTES.

Let’s start with HOURS.

There are 24 hours in a day, but there are only 12 hours on a clock. How can this work? What do you think?

Hint! The day starts at 12:00, midnight. And then, 12 hours later, it is 12:00 again. This time, it is called noon, or midday.

We know what the hour is, because of a small arrow, called the HOUR HAND.

I will move the HOUR HAND around the clock. Can you tell what the hour is?

Let’s talk about MINUTES.

The minutes have a hand too. It is longer than the hour hand.

Minutes a bit more difficult, because we don’t see them on the clock. We have to imagine them. Like this:

Now we can tell time!

We say the HOUR, and then the MINUTES.

What time is it in these pictures?

It is _____:______!

Let’s learn more about time here! (Registered students only)