Understanding the Calendar: The First Step in Learning to Tell Time

One of the most common FAQs I get: How do I start teaching my child to tell time?

Telling time is a tough concept for kids to grasp because it feels so abstract. The way we make it less abstract for children is to break it down into chunks.

🗓 The first component of learning to tell time: understanding the calendar.

🤔 How is the calendar connected to telling time? In order to grasp the abstract, smaller portions of time like minutes and hours, children must first have understanding of larger units of time like years, months, and days.

⏰ After your child masters the concept that time is broken up into years, years are broken up into months, months into weeks, and weeks into days, then they’ll be able to understand that days are broken up into hours, hours are broken up into minutes, and minutes into seconds.

“Changing the calendar” is part of our morning routine. For the first month, you’ll likely need to walk through the process with your child each day. After a few times, he or she will begin to be able to update the calendar each morning on their own. Then you can have conversations, such as:

• Let’s say today’s date together (and point to each word as you say it).

• How did you know today was the 11th? (This will help your child connect the number sequence to the days of the month)

• How did you know today was Friday? (This will help your child see that the days of the week repeat in the same pattern each week)

There are lots of great calendars for children out there, such as this Melissa & Doug one. You can also make a calendar by making a 7 by 7 grid on butcher paper and filling in each date with a Post-It note.