Time: Video playlist

What can you do in one second? Children explain that this is a really short amount of time and you can only click your fingers or burst a balloon in one second. Sabrina and the children discuss why we need seconds, providing examples from a 10-second rocket countdown to microwave times, sports and athletics. Issues of imprecise vocabulary related to time (‘give me a second’) are noted and Sabrina and Tempo discuss ways of estimating seconds through counting elephants (one elephant, two elephants etc.) The second hand on the clock is introduced. We see how it moves round the clock in 60 seconds and how this relates to one minute. Sabrina makes a milkshake which she blends for 20 seconds. She estimates the time by counting elephants.

Ask children to look at the second hand on the clock and see how fast it goes. Count together as the second hand goes right round the clock, stopping when it is back at the start. Children could work in pairs: one child does an activity and the other uses a second timer or counts (perhaps using ‘one elephant’, ‘two elephants’) to time how long it takes. Activities could include jumping up and down ten times, writing your full name, saying the alphabet or running around the playground.