Playing time games can be an effective way to teach time concepts. Young learners need to gain understandings about the various ways time is measured, and have experiences in reading and using calendars, digital and analogue clocks and stopwatches.
It is also of value for students to explore other forms of time measurement such as sandtimers, sundials, water and candle clocks, and to be able to estimate short lengths of time (10 seconds; a minute) without a timer.
Younger learners begin by distinguishing parts of the day, day and night, the days of the week and months of the year. They move on to recognising o'clock and half past on analogue clocks, and matching digital and analogue times. Once these skills are acquired, students work towards understanding quarter to and quarter past, and the time increments in between these.
It is also important for students to be able to calculate mentally by adding or subtracting units of time to solve real life problems (eg. How long is it until 3 o'clock? How long have we been waiting? If the bus leaves at 3.25, and it takes 20 minutes, what time will it arrive?).
