Measuring time

How do you measure time?

You can measure time on an analogue clock or a digital clock.

Clocks come in many shapes and sizes. A watch is a clock you wear on your wrist.

An analogue clock has the numbers 1 to 12 and hands which go round.

Digital clocks have no hands. They use numbers for the hours and minutes.

Quiz: Measuring time

Why not see how much you know about this topic already? Then complete the guide and see if you can beat your score.

Measuring seconds

You measure things you can do quickly in seconds.

It takes roughly one second to say the word ‘elephant’. So, you can count in elephants!

This is not an exact second, but it will be close.

There are 60 seconds in 1 minute. It takes 60 seconds for the second hand to go all the way around the clock.

You can measure seconds on a clock. Can you see the second hand?

Measuring minutes

You measure things that take longer than 60 seconds in minutes.

This includes things like eating your lunch, brushing your teeth and playing with a toy.

A minute is about half the time it takes to brush your teeth, because you should brush your teeth for two minutes.

You can measure minutes on a clock. Can you see the minute hand?

Measuring hours

You measure activities that take longer than 60 minutes in hours.

Things that take hours include the amount of time you spend in school, watching a long film and the time you spend sleeping at night.

You can measure hours on a clock. Can you see the hour hand?

There are 24 hours in 1 day. Clocks only show 12 hour intervals, so the hour hand must goes around twice.

12 hours + 12 hours = 24 hours

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3