How to teach a child time

Time - what is it? You can’t see it, you can’t feel it - so how can you clearly explain to a child what time is? First, you need to decide at what age you can begin to introduce your child to such a concept that is incomprehensible to him.

Children and time: when to start teaching

Little children are not aware of the passage of time, everything is based on rhythms, they live here and now. In order for a child to understand what time is and how to determine it, he must develop abstract thinking quite well.

When a child learns the days of the week and the seasons, he, in principle, already becomes familiar with time, realizes that it is changing, begins to distinguish between what is now and what has already passed. There is no definite answer at what age exactly to start teaching time, but it is better that when a child goes to school, he orients himself in time intervals and can tell the time by the clock. But it's easier said than done. Children under 7 years old use visual-figurative thinking to understand the world around them, that is, what children do not see, cannot touch and study is still incomprehensible and incomprehensible to them.

How to teach a child to tell time

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

It is necessary for the child to know what follows what, that day follows night, and after night comes morning, that is, to make the child understand that all events have a certain sequence. This also needs to be taught by playing out situations with toys and through observing familiar everyday actions.

When talking with your child, 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 your child and watch its growth and development. While reading books, you can ask your child 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 like now, how people dress. For example, during summer walks You can pay special attention to flowers, greenery, etc. If learning time works better at home, for clarity, you can purchase a calendar, both tear-off and flip-up.

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

After successfully mastering the above, you can begin to introduce your child to telling time by a clock. To do this, you need to purchase a large children's watch, which should have a clear dial with clearly understandable numbers.

Then you need to explain the meaning of the big and small arrow. For easier assimilation, you can remove the minute hand and use only the hour hand; this is enough to get started. 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 a child time: video

It is possible to teach a child to understand time frames without any additional aids, but children learn much faster new information received not in words, but presented visually. To do this, you can use various manuals in the form of printed materials, but the most clear and simple way is to use educational and educational videos that can be easily found on the Internet. From the huge variety, every 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.