Ideas for time telling (three year old)

[Hemingwayscat]

Hi there,

I’m looking for some ideas to begin introducing my 3yo DD to really basic time telling - ie 7pm is bedtime, 12pm is lunchtime, 5pm is dinner time etc (times along those lines anyway!) I’ve looked at a few clocks that seem more aimed to teach primary age kids how to tell the time but I think these may be a bit ahead for DD.
The ideas I’ve had so far are to print pictures of clocks that show the times I want to cover with her along with a picture of the activity that happens at that time and put them near to the kitchen clock so she can match them up. Does this sound like a good starting point?

Thank you!

I think what you're doing is right. I wouldn't expect too much at 3. I think it's more age 5-7ish that they're able to tell time

I agree with the pictures. The other thing that worked for us was a toy clock which LO could change themselves. We played a game where they needed to change the time to x o'Clock, then we introduced half past, quarter past etc.

3 is still young for time telling. If your LO can do it then great. But don't worry if they're not getting it at this age.

Thank you both for your replies! I’m certainly not expecting any accuracy but I’ve had my ear chewed off for the past few days with ‘can we have lunch?’ and ‘is it dinner time?’ so it’s more about her understanding when she sees the clock that the ‘shape’ doesn’t quite match the one for lunch or tea if that makes sense?
@DodoBaggins I like the idea of the game, I’ll give that a go 😊

Ah we had this exact thing but for his TV time.

I ended up drawing a clock, adding the numbers and then colouring in when he was allowed tv. We then made actual hands for the clock which could be moved.

When he asked whether he could have TV then I'd just say " let's check the time". We'd check the time on an actual clock then on his clock we'd move the hands to the actual time. He could then see the difference between what the time was, what it needed to be and what was left.

He already had a concept of time as he was a bit older than your LO but you could possibly use different coloured segments to show the gap between the hours. Then you could say "three spaces left- the blue, the green,the pink" rather than "3 hours" which she may not understand.

At 3 my kids were fans of timers. (The ones that you might use in the kitchen to know when to take things out the oven) Timer beeping means something new happens like snack or picking up sibling or whatever.

In some nurseries and schools I've seen visual time tables so kids know what's happening in what order.

At 3 the best you can do is explain that you will cook dinner when it's dark/Daddy comes home or whatever your routine is. My kids seemed to like predictable patterns like snack after getting home from the school run to help them understand and feel more in control

Sorry for the late reply! Timers also sound great, thank you for the suggestion :)