DIY Learning Clock

Dragonfly starts kindergarten next year, which is the beginning of formal math lessons- including learning to tell time.  I know that learning clocks are not to difficult to find, but I wanted something more sturdy than what I was finding at the store.

At the time of the blog post, I haven't even finished the clock. I'm waiting on the arms until I'm more sure of what I want to use (real clock arms, popsicle sticks, or something else).  Still, here are the directions and the printable.

I started with an 8" wood circle from the craft store and painted it with white acrylic paint.  I decided to leave it plain in case we ever wanted to put it on the wall or if the kids wanted to decorate it later.

Next, I printed the numbers, cut them out and modge podge them to 1.5" circles.  I added velcro to the back of the circles, making sure to use the same "side" of the velcro on all the circles.  I ended up with 24 circles- twelve with just the "hour hand" numbers and twelve with the hour and the minutes.

The kids can practice putting the numbers on the clock as they learn about "clockwise" number direction.  Then, they can manipulate the hands to express different times.

They can also be used with my telling time activities:
- school schedule (hour)
- zookeeper schedule (hour and half hour)

To download the clock pieces, click on the file name:
- 1 inch labels
- 1.5 inch labels

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