> kids clock
Read and set a clock
Meant for preschool to grades 5/6
Worksheets with clock faces from the full hour to the minute: read the clock, draw the hands, match clock and time, tick the right clock, 24-hour time. Plus a practice clock to set on screen and a clock to craft, as a PDF.
Preschool means about 3 to 6 years. The levels are suggestions, not a statement about the curriculum: Curricula differ from state to state, and I have not checked what is taught in which grade. Only random clocks to read or draw? Math worksheets can do that too.
The clock face always has the rim and the tick marks. Without numbers, only the tick marks are there.
Number: 3:40. Words: for example “twenty to four”. Applies to “Set the clock”, “Which clock fits?” and the practice clock.
There are several ways of speaking, and the tool does not treat any as the right one. Common: quarter past three, half past three, quarter to four. Regional adds the German forms viertel vier (3:15) and dreiviertel vier (3:45). I have not checked where people speak which way.
The number: two boxes for hour and minute. The words: one line, for example for “half past three”.
Leave empty for the suggestion: Practice telling time
1 to 30, each with its own No.
1 to 999,999. The same No. and the same settings give exactly the same sheet. The No. decides which times appear and how they are mixed.
After each: every sheet is followed by its solution. If you print on both sides, the solution ends up on the back; then “At the end” is better.
The preview appears right away.
On the worksheets the exact size does not matter. To sign on a phone: save the PDF and add the signature at /en/pdf/sign/.
Drag the hands with a mouse or your finger. With the keyboard: Tab selects a hand, the arrow keys change the value, Page Up and Page Down jump by larger steps.
- Number
- 12:00
- 24 hours
- 12:00
- Words
- twelve o'clock
0 to 23
0 to 59
No task yet. “Random task” picks a time for the level.
No points, no high-score list, nothing is saved. “Check” compares the hour (morning and afternoon count the same) and the minute exactly.
On one A4 sheet: a clock face with all 12 numbers and 60 marks, plus an hour hand and a minute hand to cut out. The clock face is as large as chosen, and the cut line is 3 mm outside the rim.
The preview appears right away.
When printing, choose “Actual size” or “100%”, not “Fit to page”, otherwise the diameter is off. The 5 cm check mark at the bottom of the sheet shows whether it worked. Glue it onto cardboard. An adult helps with piercing and cutting.
Saves level, task types, settings, heading and No. as a JSON file on your device. With “Load from file”, exactly the same sheet comes back later.
Goes well with: Math worksheets · Handwriting sheets (German) · Timer · Craft templates · All kids tools · Metronome & tuning tone (German)
Nothing leaves this device. Sheets, practice clock and PDF are made here in your browser, nothing is saved.
How it works
- 01Choose a level and set the clock face: precision, numbers on the edge, minute marks. The level sets sensible defaults, and you can change them.
- 02On the “Sheets” tab, choose task types, number of times and sheets. The preview shows the first sheet right away, and with a click on “Solutions” its solution too.
- 03Download the PDF and print it. If you need the same sheet later, save it as a file or note the No. and the settings. “Set the clock” and “Craft a clock” are tabs of their own.
The clock faces. Every clock face is drawn from lines, a circle and text: 60 minute marks (every fifth longer and bolder), 12 numbers or Roman numerals and a small circle in the middle. The hour hand is short and thick, the minute hand long and slim, so they differ in shape and length, because everything is black when printed. At minutes past the hour the hour hand stands between two numbers: At 3:30 it is between the 3 and the 4. All clocks on a sheet are the same size, and the tool picks the largest size that does not need more pages than necessary. The clock face does not replace a real clock.
Levels. Preschool: full hour, half hour optional, all 12 numbers, at most 6 times per sheet (with all four task types it is 7, because “Match” needs at least 4). Grades 1/2: full, half and quarter hours, all 12 numbers. Grades 3/4: 5-minute steps, then single minutes, numbers on the edge optional, 24-hour time. Grades 5/6: single minutes, 24-hour time, clock without numbers and with Roman numerals. All of these are guide values that I set. Which level suits which child is up to you.
Task types. “What time is it?”: a clock with hands, plus boxes for hour and minute or a line for the words. “Set the clock”: the time is given, the clock face is empty, and the child draws the hands. “Match”: clocks with hands on the left, the times as numbers on the right in a different order, with dots to connect; at most 6 clocks per block, at most 4 on A4 landscape, and with more come further blocks. “24 hours” (from grades 3/4): a 12-hour time with a time-of-day word into 24-hour notation and back. “Which clock fits?”: one time, three clocks to tick, exactly one is right. The two wrong clocks are valid clocks of another time themselves, for example with swapped numbers (3:40 against 8:15), one step off (3:45 against 3:30) or with another hour (3:40 against 4:40).
No time twice. On a sheet no time appears twice, not even in different task types. 3:00 and 15:00 are the same clock and do not both appear. The full hour alone has only 12 different times, so there are never more than 12, and at most 6 for preschool. “Match” needs at least 4 clocks, and every chosen type at least one time: Then more times can be on the sheet than you chose, and the preview says so.
Way of speaking and numbers. Common: five past three, quarter past three, twenty-five past three, half past three, quarter to four. For minutes that are not a multiple of 5, the tool speaks in plain numbers: three forty-two. The 24-hour reading is “fifteen forty”. Digital times appear as 3:05 or 15:05, the hour without a leading zero.
Times of day. The tool uses: night 0:00 to 4:59, morning 5:00 to 8:59, late morning 9:00 to 11:59, noon 12:00 to 13:59, afternoon 14:00 to 17:59, evening 18:00 to 21:59, night 22:00 to 23:59. This is an agreement of this tool, and not everyone draws the lines like this. That is why only times appear where the word is clear, never “12:30 in the evening”.
Practice clock. Only the time is stored (hour 0 to 23, minute 0 to 59). Both hands are calculated from it, so the hour hand always matches the minute. If you drag the minute hand, the minute snaps to the nearest whole minute; past the 12 the hour counts on or back. If you drag the hour hand, it sets the hour and leaves the minute alone. “Check” says in text whether the time is right and names what is right and what is not. The clock also announces its time to screen readers, after you let go or after a short pause.
Clock to craft. A clock face in 120, 150 or 180 mm, an hour hand and a minute hand on one A4 page. The clock face has a hole mark in the middle, and the hands at the round foot: a small circle with a cross, 3 mm in size. If you stack the three parts on the marks, a paper fastener holds them. The minute hand reaches the minute marks, the hour hand about 60 percent of the radius.
Limits. Only A4, landscape only with 12 or 16 times. At most 30 sheets and 150 pages at once. The tool cannot do time spans (“How long does it take?”). The heading is set in Helvetica: Characters this font does not know are dropped, and the field tells you. There are no pictures and no figures on the sheets.
Nothing is saved. The page remembers nothing. The file from “Save to a file” contains level, settings, heading and No. and stays on your device. If you write a name in the heading, it is in the PDF and in this file, both only on your device. Photos and names of other children need the parents' consent. There is a template at photo consent (German).