Reading a clock face is a life skill children use every day — for school, meals, bedtime and playtime. Year 1 explorers learn that a clock has two hands with two different jobs, then read times like 7:00 and 7:30 on a real, round clock face. Times are always written in digits, the way children see them on phones, ovens and timetables.
What your child will learn
- Know that the short hand shows the hour and the long hand shows the minutes
- Read :00 times, like 7:00: the long hand points straight up at 12
- Read :30 times, like 7:30: the long hand points straight down at 6
- Say which number the minute hand points at for a time
Short hand, long hand
The short, thick hand is the hour hand. It moves slowly — once round the clock takes 12 hours. The long, thin hand is the minute hand. It goes all the way round once every hour.
In our clocks the hour hand is dark and the minute hand is purple, so children can tell them apart at a glance while they are learning.
Why :30 is tricky
At 3:30 the hour hand is not on the 3 — it sits halfway between 3 and 4, because the hour is halfway done. Many children read the bigger number and say 4:30. The rule: the hour is the number the short hand has just gone past.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. When the long minute hand points at 6, how many minutes is it past the hour?
- 15
- 6
- 60
- 30
Show answer
Answer: 30. At 6 the minute hand has gone half way round: 30 minutes, so the time ends in :30 — like 7:30.
2. When the long minute hand points at 12, how many minutes is it past the hour?
- 0
- 30
- 12
- 60
Show answer
Answer: 0. Minute hand on 12 means no minutes yet, so the time ends in :00 — like 7:00.
3. What time does the clock show?
- 7:00
- 7:12
- 7:30
- 8:00
Show answer
Answer: 7:00. The long minute hand points straight up at 12 — no minutes yet — and the short hour hand points at 7. It is 7:00.
Tips for grown-ups
- Point to a real clock at :00 and :30 times: “The long hand is on 12 — it’s 7:00, breakfast time!”
- Make a paper-plate clock with a short and a long hand and take turns setting times.
- Ask “Which hand is the hour hand?” before reading every time, until it becomes automatic.