How to teach a child about time

Time - what is it? You will not see it, you will not feel it - so how is it clear to explain to a child what time is? To begin with, you need to decide at what age you can begin to acquaint the child with such an incomprehensible concept for him.

Children and time: when to start teaching

Little children are not aware of the passage of time, they have everything based on rhythms, they live here and now. For a child to understand what time is, how to define it, he must develop abstract thinking well enough.

When a child learns the days of the week and the seasons, he, in principle, already gets to know the time, realizes that it is changing, begins to distinguish between what is now and what has already passed. At what age to start teaching time, there is no definite answer, but it is better that, after going to school, the child is oriented in time intervals, he can determine the time by the clock. But this is easier said than done. In children under 7 years of age, visual-figurative thinking is involved in learning about the world around them, that is, what the kids do not see, cannot touch and study is still incomprehensible and incomprehensible to them.

How to teach a child to tell the time

To begin with, you need to lay the foundations of a time frame, make it clear what is past, present and future. Naturally, this should be done in the form of a game or a discussion of what happened yesterday, what the baby is doing today, and what is planned to be done tomorrow. When doing ordinary chores around the house, you need to comment on your actions in terms of what you are doing now, what you will do next, and what you have already done.

It is necessary that the child knows what follows what, that day follows night, and night comes morning, that is, to make it clear to the child that all events have a certain sequence. It also needs to be taught by playing around situations with toys and through observing the usual everyday actions.

In a conversation with a baby, it is advisable to use concepts such as now, then, soon. For clarity, you can use various teaching aids, or, for example, plant a flower with a child and watch its growth and development. While reading books, you can ask the kid to tell you what the book is about, following the sequence of actions.

The next step is to introduce the child to the seasons. It is necessary to clearly show the differences and features of the weather, changes in nature, for which, during walks, it is necessary to observe what is happening, what trees, grass, flowers are now, how people dress. For example, during summer walks you can pay special attention to flowers, greenery, etc. If teaching time goes better at home, for clarity, you can purchase a calendar, both tear-off and loose-leaf.

At the same time, you can begin acquaintance with such concepts as day, week, month. A calendar is also suitable for these purposes. In parallel, it is necessary to explain the meaning of such concepts as yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.

After successfully assimilating the above, you can begin to acquaint the child with the definition of time by the clock. To do this, you need to purchase a large children's watch, which should have a clear dial with clear understandable numbers.

Then you need to explain the meaning of the big and small arrows. For easier assimilation, you can remove the minute hand, and use only the hour hand, for a start this is enough. At this time, you need to focus the baby's attention on what time he does his daily procedures, i.e. tie them to a specific time.

Teach your child about time: video

It is possible to teach a child to understand the time frame without any additional benefits, but children learn much faster new information, received not in words, but provided visually. To do this, you can use various manuals in the form of printed materials, but the most understandable and simple way is to use training and educational videos, which can be easily found on the Internet. From a huge variety, each mother will find a video that is most suitable for her child, for example, you can use educational cartoons with your baby's favorite characters.