Support time-telling skills with this fun and interactive Spin the Clock game! This hands-on activity gives students valuable practise in reading analog time and matching it to digital time. Using two spinners - one for the hour and one for the minutes - students will create times to the nearest five minutes and work to find the corresponding match on their game board.

This engaging game promotes understanding of both hour and minute positions on the clock and strengthens students' ability to read and interpret analog time. It also encourages strategic thinking and turn-taking, making it an excellent addition to maths rotations or small group work.

Spin the Clock is low-prep, flexible, and easy to adapt for varying ability levels. Students will enjoy the game format while building confidence and fluency with telling time!

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Practise reading analog clocks accurately
• ✅ Develop understanding of hour and minute relationships
• ✅ Strengthen matching skills between analog and digital time
• ✅ Build turn-taking and collaborative learning skills
• ✅ Promote fluency with telling time to the nearest five minutes

What’s Included:

• Hour spinner template
• Minute spinner template (increments of 5 minutes)
• Player game boards featuring a variety of times to match

Materials Needed:

• Printed spinner templates and player game boards
• Paper clips and pencils (or spinner arrows) to create spinners
• Counters or markers for covering matched times on the game boards

How to Use:

1. Print the hour and minute spinner templates and player game boards.
2. Set up the spinners using paper clips and pencils or spinner arrows.
3. Students take turns spinning both spinners - spin the hour spinner first and choose the number closest to the spinner pointer.
4. Next, spin the minute spinner and select the minute to the nearest five minutes.
5. If a player has the matching analog time on their game board, they cover it with a counter.
6. If they do not have a match, the next player takes their turn.
7. The game continues until one player covers all their times or a set time limit is reached.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Include in your maths rotations to provide regular practise with time-telling.
• 💡 Use as a fun consolidation activity following a time-focused lesson sequence.
• 💡 Pair students up to encourage collaborative learning and discussion.
• 💡 Offer as an early finisher activity to reinforce skills in an engaging format.

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Model how to use the spinners and record the time before beginning the game to ensure all students understand the process.
• 💛 Use coloured counters or small objects to make game play more visually engaging.
• 💛 Differentiate by creating boards with simpler or more complex times depending on student needs.
• 💛 Encourage students to verbalise the time they have spun to reinforce time vocabulary and understanding.

Spin the Clock is an engaging and interactive way for students to build fluency with telling time. It’s a low-prep activity that promotes hands-on learning and supports key time-telling skills in a fun and collaborative format!