Set the clock

Telling the time is two skills at once: knowing which hand is which, and counting round the face, in fives and then in single minutes. In Year 3 children learn to read a clock to the minute, including clocks with Roman numerals from I to XII. In Year 4 they convert between analogue, digital and 24-hour times.

What the game does

• Each go is ten clocks, from the times your child picks: o'clock and half past, quarter past and quarter to, every 5 minutes, to the minute, digital times, or 24-hour times with am and pm.
• Each hand drags on its own: the short hand to the hour, the long hand to the minutes. The short hand still creeps along as the minutes go by, as on a real clock, so at half past it sits halfway between two numbers.
• A clock set wrong says which hand to check. A Hint button shows where the long hand goes, then the short hand, as faint hands on the clock. If your child is still stuck after both, the hands glide to the time and the game says why.
• Each clock is worth 3 stars, and a hint or a wrong try costs one. There is no timer and no pass or fail, and nothing is saved: close the page and it is gone.

How to help at home

• Keep a real analogue clock where your child can see it, and ask them to read it at natural moments: before tea, at bedtime, when a programme starts.
• Say times the way they are taught: "20 minutes past 3", "25 minutes to 7". Past is the right half of the clock and to is the left.
• Once they can set a time, ask what the clock will say in 10 minutes, and let them turn the hands to find out.

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