Time Worksheets

This first group of time worksheets will focus on the hour hand.  When you begin teaching your child how to tell time, keep it simple.  Start by learning how to tell time to the hour.

By doing this, you'll eliminate confusion between the hour and the minute hand.  The minute hand will always be on 12; the student can focus solely on the number that the hour hand is pointed to. 

This also means that your child can begin learning about time much sooner.  As long as your child knows how to count to twelve, he or she can begin telling time.

Telling Time Worksheets:Hours

There are two basic ways that the hour is presented in the worksheets below. 

In the first two papers, you will see a set of six different clock faces.  Below each clock is a blank line with "o'clock" written on it. Have your child look at the clock and then write down the time shown on the line provided. Be sure to point out how the minute hand is longer (it touches the big numbers) and pointing to the 12, while the shorter hand (doesn't quite reach the numbers) represents what hour it is.

The next two worksheets reverse the process, giving your child the time and asking him/her to draw the hands. In the third paper, your child only needs to draw the hour hand, while in the fourth he'll need to draw both the hour and minute hands. I also left the last two clocks blank so students could make up their own hour and then plot it on the clock face.

In the last two worksheets, you will see a column of clocks and a column of times (to the hour).  Draw a line from the clocks on the left to the correct times on the right.

Click on the images below to print or download your worksheets.

Tips For Teaching Hour Vs. Minute Hands

It can be hard to remember which hand is which.  It seems that it would make more sense for the hour hand to be longer, you know, since hours are longer than minutes, but that's not the way it is.  You can help your child to differentiate between the two hands by pointing out that the minute hand is longer, so you can see exactly what minute it is on the clock face.

If you have an analog clock, you may get it down and show it to them.  Have them move the dial on the back and see how the minute hand moves from one minute hash-mark to the next.  This lets them see how the minute hand needs to be long enough to show the exact minute of the day.  Tell them that hour hands can be shorter, because you can easily see that the small hand is pointing to a large number or between the large numbers.

When your child has mastered these time worksheets, you can move on to half-hours or check out some of the other time and 1st Grade math worksheets available: