How to Tell Time on a Clock With Hands

The short hand gives the hour

The short hand moves slowly, going round once every twelve hours. It's only exactly on a number at o'clock. The rest of the time it's between two numbers, and you read the one it has already passed. Between 3 and 4 means the hour is 3, even when it looks very close to 4. See it on 3:50.

The long hand gives the minutes

The long hand goes all the way round in an hour. Each number it passes is 5 more minutes, so count by 5s from the 12: the 1 is 5, the 2 is 10, the 3 is 15, and so on up to 55 at the 11. The little marks between numbers are single minutes. Read more on the five-minute level.

Saying the time

You can read a clock as numbers (three twenty) or in words (twenty past three). For the first half of the hour we say past the hour we've left. For the second half we can say to the hour that's coming: 3:40 is twenty to four. The special words are o'clock, half past, and quarter past and quarter to.

How to do it with Clockwood

1. Set any time on the teaching clock and read the short hand out loud.
2. Count the long hand by 5s, then press Say it to check.
3. Try a quick quiz with no game, just clocks.
4. Print a read-the-clock sheet to practice on paper.

Questions people ask