Alarm Clock
Toddler · 2–3A ticking alarm clock with two bells on top. Color the clock and the bells! A fun way to talk about time, mornings, and getting up. Print it on A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill.
A clock before telling the time
Telling the time is a five-to-seven-year-old skill and nothing on this page requires it. What a three-year-old can get from a clock is the shape of it: a circle with numbers around the edge, two hands of different lengths, and two bells on top. Naming the parts is the whole lesson, and it is a useful one to have in place before anyone tries to teach o'clock.
The bells give the page its character and a second area to colour, and they are worth talking about — an alarm clock is one of the few objects in a house whose job a small child genuinely understands.
Time a child can actually grasp
Young children understand sequence long before they understand clock time. After breakfast, before bed, when it gets dark. Anchoring the clock to those — this is where the hands point when we get up — is far more meaningful than starting with numbers. The numerals themselves are good counting practice in the meantime.
Frequently asked questions
- When do children learn to tell the time?
- O'clock and half past usually come around five or six, with minutes past and to following at seven or eight. Before that, the useful work is naming the parts and connecting the clock to the order of the day.
- Is an analogue clock still worth teaching?
- Yes. A round clock shows time as a quantity that moves, which a digital display does not. Children who learn analogue first tend to have a better sense of how long twenty minutes actually is.