Practical Learning Activity
An Activity for students who are learning to tell the time.
(Free Downloadable Printable PDF Tell the Time Pages)
The Little Hand of the Clock Also Known as the Hour Hand
The little hand is also known as the hour hand, and it goes from one number to the next on the clock each time one hour passes. In this drawing, the little hand is directly pointing to a number, which makes it a time known as o’clock.
Because the number the little hand is pointing to is twelve, the time is twelve o’clock.
If the little hand was pointing to the eight, it would be eight o’clock.
The Big Hand of the Clock Also Known as the Minute Hand
Though the little hand would be enough to show the time on a clock, there is also a larger hand which shows you the minutes, so that you can know the time more precisely. Every hour, as the little hand moves from one number to the next, the big hand does one full rotation of the clock, past the sixty little markers which show every minute in the hour.
How Do You Know if You Are Beginning a New Hour?
If the big minute hand is on the twelve at the top of the clock and the little hand is on a number, it shows that you are exactly at the beginning of a new hour, and this time is always called by the number of the hour and then the word, ‘o’clock.’
Here the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the one, so the time which the clock is showing is one o’clock.
What time do you think you see on the clock below?
Show Answer
$$seven\;o’clock$$
Every hour, when the little hand on the clock goes from one number to the next, the big hand goes completely around the clock face once. This means that, if you are exactly halfway through an hour, the little hand is exactly between two numbers and the big hand is right at the bottom of the clock on the six, as shown on the clock below. On this clock, the little hand is at the midpoint between the one and the two, and the big hand is on the six, which means that the hour is half-way through.
This time is known as, ‘half past one,’ or, ‘one thirty,’ because half an hour has passed since one o’clock.
What time do you think the clock above is showing?
Show Answer
$$half\;past\;five\;or\;five\;thirty$$
Minute Markers
An hour is sixty minutes long, and those minutes are shown all around the clock face in a full circle. Can you see where the minutes are on this clock face?
Quarter Past and Quarter To
When you are telling the time from a clock, one quarter means fifteen minutes because fifteen minutes is one quarter of an hour. When the clock shows fifteen minutes past the hour, the time is called, ‘a quarter past’ or just, ‘quarter past.’ When the clock shows fifteen minutes before the hour, the time is called, ‘a quarter to’ or just, ‘quarter to.’
This clock is showing a quarter to seven.
What time do you think this clock is showing?
Show Answer
$$a\;quarter\;to\;eleven$$
What About Other Minutes Past or Before the Hour?
If there are a certain number of minutes before or after the hour, you can simply say the number of minutes and then say past or to and the number of the hour. For example, ten past three, or twenty past two. If you were past the thirty minute mark, you would say, ‘twenty minutes to,’ or, ‘ten minutes to.’ See if you can tell what the time on this clock is.
Show Answer
$$ten\;past\;three$$
Other Ways to Tell the Time
Did you know that there are many ways to tell the time? People of different cultures and languages often tell the time differently. Another common way to tell the time is to say the hour and then the minute. So, instead of saying, ‘ten past eight,’ you could say, ‘eight ten.’ Or instead of saying, ‘twenty to one,’ you could say, ‘twelve forty.’
Did you know?
- The clock face is divided into 12 numbered sections, each of which represent an hour. A clock measures a full 12 hour cycle twice during every 24-hour day because there are two twelves in twenty-four.
- In one 24-hour period the little hand of a clock goes around the clock twice and the big hand goes around the clock 24 times.
- In one week the big hand goes around the clock face 168 times because there are 168 hours in a week.
How many times do you think the big hand goes around the clock during the first twelve hours of every day?
Show Answer
$$twelve \;times,\; because \;it\; $$$$goes \;right \;around \;the \;$$$$clock\; once \;every \;hour.$$
The big hand goes faster around the clock than the little hand. How many times faster than the little hand does the big hand go?
Show Answer
$$twelve \;times\; faster,\;$$$$because \;every\;time\;the$$$$ \;little\;hand\; goes$$$$ \;around \;the\;clock\;face$$$$\;once,\;the\;big\;hand$$$$\;goes\;around\;the\;clock$$$$\;face\;twelve\;times$$
Try telling the time shown on each of these clocks. Remember that the little hand shows the number of the hours and the big hand shows you how far you are through the hour.
Show Answer
$$twenty\;past\;eight\; or\; eight\;twenty$$
Show Answer
$$twelve\;o’clock$$
Show Answer
$$one\;thirty\;or\;half\;past\;one$$
Show Answer
$$a\;quarter\;to\;two\; $$
Show Answer
$$three\;thirty\;or\;half\;past\;three$$
Show Answer
$$five\;o’clock$$
Show Answer
$$ten\;to\;nine$$
Show Answer
$$half\;past\;five\;or\;five\;thirty$$
Show Answer
$$quarter\;past\;nine\;or\;nine\;fifteen$$
Free Downloadable Printable PDFs “Telling the Time” 2 Pages – One with Questions and the Other with Questions and Answers. (Click on the Links Below):
(Go to the Free Downloads page)
More Free Activities
Go to the Number Patterns page