Telling Time

"When is it seven o'clock?

After six o'clock.

When is it six o'clock?

After five o'clock.

When is it five o'clock? 

... "

She wears a watch now.

My small, always time-conscious five-year-old girl.

It's smooth, wide, purple band wraps easily around her wrist.

The white face, full of numbers and hands, looks up at her.

We watch it tick together.

The big hand moving ever so  s l o w l y .

The little hand   s  l  o  w  e  r   still...

"What time is it?

It's twelve o'clock!"

We decided to make clock sandwiches for lunch.

With flat, round bread.

And long, orange hands.

Spread a flat, round whole wheat tortilla with a thin layer of hummus.
Arrange 12 triangular pieces of cucumber evenly around the edge
(make these by cutting a slice of cucumber into 4 quarters).

Add in the arms of the clock -
one long and one short strip of orange capsicum (pepper),
and a small triangle of cheese.

This is such an easy thing to do while learning to tell the time, and can be made to suit any time of day - round breakfast pancakes spread with ricotta and long banana arms pointing to little berry numbers; or warm pizzas at dinner with bright coloured capsicum (pepper) strips pointing to pepperoni numbers. 

I used a black icing pen to write some numbers on the plate (we had fun counting out all twelve pieces of cucumber to start with), but actual numbers could be cut out of thin slices of ham or pepperoni and placed around the plate or on the base, depending on its size. Tiny number cookie cutters can be found at specialty kitchen wear stores.

"The short hand points the hour.

The long hand points the minute.

Did you know each hour has

sixty minutes in it?

When the short hand says twelve,

And the long hand does too,

By day it's high noon - 

and that's lunchtime for you!"

(The poem Telling Time, by Carol Weston)

P.S. For more ideas and activities to help teach your kids to tell the time, click HERE - a fantastic board full of resources!