Telling Time Worksheet Generator

About this tool

Learning to tell time on an analog clock takes more than memorizing where the hands point. Students have to notice that the hour hand does not jump at the top of the hour. It drifts steadily, so at 3:45 it sits almost on the 4. Clocks that ignore this confuse the children who are paying the most attention.

These clocks are drawn with the hour hand at exactly the right angle for the minutes shown. The hour hand turns half a degree for every minute, and the minute hand turns six degrees. Choose times to the hour, half hour, quarter hour, five minutes or any minute, and the whole sheet stays at that level.

Four activities are included. Students can read a clock, draw the hands on a blank clock, turn a phrase such as “quarter to 7” into 6:45, or work out elapsed time. A mixed sheet uses all four.

How to use it

1. Choose a worksheet type. Reading clocks is the usual place to begin. Drawing the hands is a good follow-up because it requires students to place both hands.
2. Set the precision, from the hour up to any minute. Use five minutes for most grade 2 and grade 3 work.
3. Turn on minute numbers if students are still learning to count by fives around the clock.
4. Press New worksheet for a different set and print. Use the answer key to check times and see the drawn clocks.

Counting by fives

Each number on the clock face stands for five minutes. When the minute hand points to 7, that is 7 × 5 = 35 minutes. Students who skip count by fives and then add on single minutes can read any time on the clock.

Elapsed time

For elapsed time, a good strategy is to jump to the next hour first. To find how long it is from 2:35 to 3:20, go from 2:35 to 3:00 (25 minutes), then from 3:00 to 3:20 (20 minutes). The total is 45 minutes. The answer key shows the start time, the minutes and the end time for each problem.