Learn to Read a Clock: Time in Words and Clock Games

What is it?

Learn to Read a Clock teaches telling the time on a clock with hands, step by step. The short blue hand shows the hour. The long red hand shows the minutes. Move the hands, see and hear the time in words, then play read-the-clock and set-the-clock games.

Who is it for?

Children aged about 5–9, parents, and teachers teaching o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to.

How to use it

1. Explore: use −1 hour, +1 hour, −5 min, +5 min or +1 min; tap 🔊 Say the time or 🕐 Time now.
2. Play: read the clock or set it, then ✓ Check; tap New time for another.

Teaching order

1. O’clock (minute hand on 12).
2. Half past (minute hand on 6).
3. Quarter past and quarter to.
4. Five-minute steps, then any minute.

Use real clocks at home too: ask “what time is it?” at meals and bedtime.

For parents and teachers

Short sessions work best: 5–10 minutes a day, then something active. Sit with young children, say the answers aloud together, and praise effort, not just right answers. Everything runs on the device with no sign-up, no chat and no data collected about your child.

Errors and how to fix them

• No sound when tapping 🔊: turn up the volume, switch off silent mode (on iPhone, the side switch), and check the browser tab isn’t muted. Sounds use your device’s built-in voices.
• Child confuses the hands: remember short = hour, long = minutes; the colours help.

Open the tool: Learn to Read a Clock

Still stuck?

Contact support. Tell us which tool or page you were using, what you tapped, what you saw, and your phone or computer and browser (for example: Android phone, Chrome). We reply by email.