Before children can learn to tell time, they must learn to count to 60. In addition, they should know the direction the rotating hands of the clock go (clockwise). Knowing the elements of the clock, such as hour and minute hands and the clock face, are also important. To teach children which way the clock hands go, give them each a simple clock or watch and ask them to turn the minute hand clockwise or counterclockwise, monitoring how they do it. Tell the kids that each hour has 60 minutes and each minute has 60 seconds. Tell them that 24 hours make up one day, and then introduce the concept of a.m. (after midnight) and p.m. (past midday).
Teach children to read time--first to the hour, and then to the minute. Position the minute hand at 12 o'clock and teach the children to read hours. Next, use the minute hand to teach children halves of an hour, i.e., half past 10 or half past four. Then teach quarter hours, e.g., a quarter to nine or a quarter past nine. After the children are comfortable with that, teach them to tell time to the minute.
Teach the children how to set time. To do this, tell them the time and have them set the minute and hour hands of their clocks or watches accordingly. Start by the hours: two o'clock, five o'clock, six o'clock, etc. Introduce some complexity by adding half and quarter hours, such a quarter to two or half past eight. Next, instruct the children to set the time to the minute.
Digital clocks that show time in a 24-hour format are widely used in computers and cell phones. Because such devices are ubiquitous, children should become as comfortable with these clocks as with traditional 12-hour ones. Teach the children to convert time from the 24-hour to the 12-hour format or vice versa. To do this, they need to subtract 12 from the 24-hour time reading (if it is between noon and midnight) and add "p.m." For example, 13:23 is 1:23 p.m. (13-12 = 1). If a 24-hour format reading shows that the number that indicates hours in less than 12, leave the reading as it is and add "a.m."