Classroom Activities: Time to the Hour

These classroom activities are designed to complement the Telling Time to the Hour topic on BrainPOP Jr.

In this set of activities adaptable for grades K-3, parents and educators will find ideas for teaching about telling time to the hour. These activities are designed to complement the BrainPOP Jr. Telling Time to the Hour topic page, which includes a movie, quizzes, online games, printable activities, and more.

Buzz, Beep, Ding

Present an analog clock or a demonstration clock to your class. Have students name each part of the clock. Then explain that as the minute hand goes around the clock, the hour hand moves from one number to the next. Demonstrate how the hands move and then stop when the clock shows the top of an hour. Have your children buzz, beep, or ding just like an alarm clock and tell the time aloud.

To extend the activity, have student volunteers write the time on the board. They can write the time in three different ways: in words, words and numbers, or numbers. Students can then copy the times in their notebooks and also draw model clocks showing the time. They can use their notebooks as a reference throughout the Time Unit.

Time Charade

Have student volunteers mime activities they do during the day or evening. If possible, you can write specific activities on slips of paper and put them in a box or a hat. Activities can include waking up, going to bed, or eating lunch. Then have students name a specific time to the hour when they would do that activity. Make sure students tell whether the time is during the day or night. Have other students write the time on the board or draw analog clocks to show the time.

As an added twist, you can write a time to the hour on the board and have students mime an activity they would do during that time. Try writing a time where activities can be done during the day and in the evening. For example, if you choose 7:00, some students may mime waking up in the morning and other students may mime eating dinner or doing homework. Have other students decide which event is during the day and which is during the evening.

Time Bingo

Make a set of cards showing an assortment of times on clock faces. Make Bingo boards with times written in different ways (i.e., 4:00, 3 o’clock, or noon). You can make enough boards for the whole class, or just for small groups to use. Instead of “calling out” the times on the cards as they are drawn, the caller should just show the cards silently so that students need to read the time and translate it into written form on their own.