FigJam

Have a grand ol’ time with a clock template

Clocks have evolved throughout history, from sundials and water clocks to today’s numeral timekeepers. The two dominant types of clocks in the modern world are the analog clock and the digital clock.

Digital clocks display the time using, well, digits—1:35, 5:51, 10:40, and so on. The numbers are arranged into hours, minutes, and sometimes seconds and even milliseconds.

Analog clocks display the time using a representative clock face. The round clock face is divided into equal size “slices” of time—each hour is marked with its corresponding number (sometimes a digit, a Roman numeral, or even a symbol in stylized versions). Small, individual tick marks usually represent the minutes. An analog clock’s hands indicate the current time, with the small hand marking the hour and the big hand marking the minute. Some clocks have an additional “skinny” hand that ticks down the seconds as they pass.

There are countless ways to teach time. Teaching someone to tell time on a digital clock is simple—if they can read and conceptualize numbers, they’re practically there.

Teaching someone to read an analog clock is a bit tougher. It helps to understand simple geometry because of the way the circular face is divided into even sections, which denote hours or minutes. To truly understand an analog clock, your students should be able to both determine the time by looking at a diagram of a clock and draw their own analog depictions of given times. You can create and customize your own clock worksheets by using FigJam’s blank clock diagram.

Whether we like it or not, the world runs on time—and we don’t always want to be running late. Between important appointments, school schedules, and personal obligations, the skill of telling time is more than a resource; it’s a necessity.