How to Make a Paper Plate Clock

Children practice telling time from kindergarten all the way through sixth grade. It is a necessary skill of life and there are ways parents can help children master this skill. The first thing a parent can do is help their child create a paper plate clock. The child can then use the clock to work on time exercises. She will be more excited about doing her work when she is doing it on her own creation. This craft uses items you probably already have in your house so you can get started right away.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper plate
• Black poster board
• Black markers
• Metal fastener
• Hole puncher
• Real clock for reference

1. Play a paper plate in front of your child and show her a real clock. Have her point to where each number is on the clock and then to where it should go on the paper plate.

2. Give your child a black marker and allow her to write the numbers on the paper plate. Start with the 12 at the top and work your way around. Encourage your child to refer back to the real clock if she needs to.

3. Cut out a long and a short hand from a piece of poster board. These hands could be any color, but shouldn't be white. You want them to stand out from the white paper plate. The hands should be skinny rectangles with arrows on the end.

4. Use a hole puncher in the middle of the paper plate. It will help if you draw a dot in the correct location and then have your child punch it out.

5. Use the hole puncher on the end of the hands you created in Step 3. This is the spot you are going to put over the hole in the middle that you just made.

6. Slide the fastener through the top of the two hands and the middle of the paper plate. Fasten closed underneath the clock. Make sure it is a little loose so that the hands are moveable.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice setting the time and asking your child what time the clock says. Then have your child move the hands to show the clock at the times you call out.