Printable telling time

How do you teach telling time on a clock with hands?

Start with time on the hour: the long hand points to 12 and the short hand shows the hour. Then move on to half hours, quarter hours and minutes by fives. The short hand moves slowly between two numbers while the long hand goes around. Here you print sheets for each step and a clock to build.

How to use it

1. Pick the activity: read the time, draw the hands, match to digital or build the clock.
2. Pick the level: on the hour, half hour, quarter hours, five minutes or every minute.
3. Tap Make a new sheet until you find one you like.
4. Tick the answer option if you want to print the solved sheet.
5. Tap Print the sheet. In the print window, keep the scale at 100% (or choose Fit to page on Letter paper).

How to explain telling time

• The short hand shows the hours and the long hand shows the minutes.
• The long hand goes all the way around in 60 minutes, which is one hour. For the long hand, each number on the clock is worth 5 minutes: at 1 it is 5 minutes, at 2 it is 10, at 3 it is 15.
• On the hour the long hand points to 12. At half past it points to 6, because half a turn is 30 minutes.
• A quarter of an hour is 15 minutes: long hand on 3. Three quarters is 45 minutes: long hand on 9.
• While the long hand goes around, the short hand moves slowly from one number to the next. At 3:30 it is halfway between 3 and 4. The hour is the number it has already passed.

The four activities

• Read the time: nine clocks with hands, with a line to write the time for each one.
• Draw the hands: nine clock faces without hands, with the time written below.
• Match to digital: five clocks with hands and five digital clocks out of order, to join with a line.
• Build the clock: a big clock face and two hands to cut out and join with a paper fastener. On the five minutes and every minute levels, the face also shows the minutes around the outside.

How to build the paper clock

1. Glue the sheet onto card stock or thin cardboard and let it dry.
2. Cut out the clock face and the two hands along the dashed line.
3. With help from an adult, punch a hole in the center of the face and in the marked spot on each hand.
4. Push the paper fastener through both hands and the face and open the legs at the back.
5. Turn the hands to show a time and ask: what time is it?

What the sheet looks like

• Every clock face has the 12 numbers and the 60 minute marks, with the five-minute marks drawn stronger.
• The hour hand is short and thick and the minute hand is long and thin.
• The hour hand sits at the right spot between two numbers, just like on a real clock.
• The bottom of the sheet has a reference strip with the way to say each kind of time.
• The hours go from 1 to 12 and do not repeat on the same sheet.

Frequently asked questions