Purchase a watch that excites your child. The key to helping a child learn anything is to make the activity engaging. Your child will be more enthused about wearing a watch decorated with a favorite cartoon character, animal or color and therefore more interested in learning to tell time.
Present the concept of learning to tell time as a special achievement rather than a chore. Give your child the watch as a surprise. Emphasize that the child is growing up and that all big boys and girls need to know how to tell time.
Focus on the hands of the watch. Explain to your child that the big hand is for minutes and that the little hand is for hours. If your child is having trouble remembering which hand is which, create a song or a rhyme to help her remember. You can even use a simple line to help her remember, such as, “There are more minutes than hours, so minutes need a longer arm.”
Familiarize your child with the numbers around the face of the watch. Teach him that after 60 seconds (or after the smallest hand rotates all the way around the clock one time), a new minute begins. Once the child is familiar with the sequence of seconds to minutes, it is time to teach him how minutes become hours. Inform him that just as the second hand going around changes the minute, the minute hand going all the way around changes the hour. Make sure that your child understands that 60 minutes comprise an hour and 60 seconds comprise a minute.
Create a game of the whole experience. Make it an everyday activity in which you go over the information with your child. When you are walking around the grocery store with your child, ask her to tell you what the little hand means or what minute past or hour the clock shows. Every time she answers correctly, reward her with a treat, or simply praise her enthusiastically. If she answers incorrectly, correct her, but praise her for trying.