**This post is in association with F.Hinds

I’m always on the lookout for gifts for Toby and Gabe that are not only fun but will help them learn too. They are both eager to learn how to tell the time (although Gabe doesn’t really understand it too well at the moment) and are always looking at the clocks in our house and asking what time it is. There are lots of children’s watches available – F.Hinds has some great ones and as an added bonus there is 15% off everything on their site until 27th November.

Toby has been learning to tell the time at school recently but we’ve been talking to him about the time for quite a while now. We have a big clock on our wall in the living room so we talk about where the hands are pointing and when it’s time to do things. Gabe is only three but he likes to look at the digital clock on my bedside table and the one on the oven too. He knows he’s not supposed to get up until there’s a 7 at the beginning of the time (not that it always stops him!), and he knows he can’t have his tablet to play on until it’s 10. That’s about as far as we’ve got for now though.

I asked some of my blogging friends if they had any tips for teaching kids to tell the time, and these are a few of the things they came up with…

Jules from Pondering Parenthood is a primary school teacher so she had plenty of great tips:

Start with lots of counting in fives, pointing to the numbers around the clock, as you go.

Have a mix of digital and analogue clocks around the house.

Label an analogue clock with o’clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to labels.

Start with whole hours, then move on to half past, quarter past/to, then to 5 minutes before being able to tell the time to the nearest minute.

Make clocks with paper plates and discuss what the hands and numbers mean.

Lianne from AnkleBiters Adventures suggested this:

The wooden clocks where you can move the handles are really good – as you can practice and ask them to show you were certain times are.

We actually have a wooden clock already so we’ll need to get it out again and give this a try.

Victoria from Lylia Rose and Erica from The Incidental Parent both recommended a watch or clock with 5, 10, 15, 20 and so on marked as well as the usual hours. I remember having one just like this when I was little. This time teachers watch from F.Hinds would be perfect – and it’s available in other colours too.

Lastly Lyndsay from My Family of Roses and Jenny from Monkey and Mouse both suggested playing games to do with time – especially What’s the time Mr Wolf? Actually I saw Gabe playing this at nursery when I picked him up the other day so maybe we should play at home too.

I bet it won’t be long until Toby and Gabe have both learned to tell the time, and then it I’m sure they’ll be after something a bit more grown up before we know it. How fab do the Kurio kids’ smart watches look?

Do your children know how to tell the time? I’d love to hear any other tips you have in the comments.