For a child telling the time can be a difficult concept to grasp. With young children we often use the terms soon, in 5 mins, tomorrow, or in the afternoon – these terms are abstract and not easily measurable in the eyes of a child. You only have to think about your own child – in a minute, soon, later this morning, after lunch – these answers are difficult to measure and are hard for children to comprehend the period of time you mean.

A timely example of this understanding of time periods is the countdown to Christmas (sorry to those that don’t celebrate Christmas, I am using this as an example as it is everywhere – you could replace Christmas with a special day that is important to you). Shopping centres have had their decorations and displays up since early October and to young children this means Christmas is nearly here. It is hard for them in early October to comprehend that it is still quite a long way until Christmas. How many times have you been asked – When is it Christmas? How long until Christmas? Or is it nearly Christmas? Our usual reply is often 3 weeks away or however many weeks it is. But does this really mean anything to your child, particularly a 2, 3 or 4 year old?

Due to the abstract concept of time it is important to show and explain to our children the standard units or the measuring devices for learning time. For the countdown to Christmas it would be great to introduce your child to the calendar. There is so much learning involved in a calendar and it benefits a whole range of ages and you can start now.

If we are focusing on Christmas, explain that this month is December, and circle or highlight Christmas Day. Show your child that we can count the days until Christmas. Maybe you can mark off each day that is gone until it is Christmas. You may use this again to explain how long till their birthday, countdown for holidays etc. Around this concept you can teach about days, weeks, months etc.

Keep a calendar at their height and let them explore the months, weeks and days of the year. Place all important dates on your calendar so children can get used to seeing when things will happen.

Children love to learn about new things. Time is a great topic that works well with informal, everyday learning. Children can enjoy the excitement of counting down the days till Christmas as well as consolidating a new concept.