Time After Time

The concept of time is a funny thing.  Who can really grasp it?  On one  hand it seems like ages ago that I brought my little one home from the hospital, and at the same time it feels just like yesterday.  How does one go about teaching the concept of time to little ones?  To them a day truly is like a thousand years! 

I read somewhere that its helpful to give children a specific time (as in you have 10 minutes to play and then we are cleaning up) then set the timer and when the timer goes off, clean up.  They will then start to grasp a better understanding of time.  It doesn’t work if you don’t set the timer and then fail to follow through on the end time.  I’ve use this lots both in my classroom and with my children.  Egg timers are a mommy and teacher’s best friend!

But, I’ve also found something else that works particularly well for my kiddos.  I explain units of time in concepts they can truly comprehend.  T.V. Shows

Each day my son has quiet time for 1.5 hrs while his sisters nap.  “How long is an hour and a half?” he asks.  “One episode of Sesame Street and one episode of Spiderman.”  I reply.

"Kids,” I say one morning,"School starts in 15 minutes.”  “How long is that they reply,”  “You know how each episode of Word World has two stories?  It’s one story,”  I answer. 

So I am pretty much limited to time limits of 15 minutes (one portion of Word World, George the Monkey, or Clifford)  or 30 minutes (Spiderman, Dora, or Sid the Science Kid) or one hour (Sesame Street), or any combination of the above. 

Last night the kids asked how long till we get there and my husband called to the back of the minivan “45 minutes… like one Curious George less than  Sesame Street).