Review+Giveaway: Managing Time is a Lifelong Skill- So Let's Get Started with Time Timer Plus & ZINGO! Time-Telling

WHAT: Time Timer PLUS  and ZINGO Time Telling

DOES: Excellent way to how time is always moving and to help measure that internally
INVEST: Game: 19.99; Timer: $37.95

AGES: Game 4+; Timer: Ages 2-102
TOOLS: Think Like a Scientist/Engineer, Like An Executive, Flexibility is My Superpower

GIVEAWAY PRIZE: One Winner Receives Both the Game and the Timer!  Woo-hoo!

I think teaching time to kids is only half-done.  Time instruction mostly focuses on reading an analog clock and assess period in between two points in time. But why stop there?  Time is something that can help kids and adults be much more self-aware of their abilities and when people know themselves, they can stop comparing themselves to others and work on their own goals.

Do we ever ask kids describe what an hour feels like? And I'm so guilty of this: I tell my kids, "I'll be there in five minutes," but sometimes I'm not. Kids worry that a dreaded activity will go on forever because they don't really know what 45 minutes feels like but they may if you tell them, "That's like 2 episodes of Rabbids Invasion." Somehow, that is reassuring. 

Building a good understanding of time is important to kids at an early age. Lack of understanding can cause undue anxiety. If we have too much time, that can also make matter worse. But what is the #1 reason why understanding time is important?  Simple: you can't be a effective at work without knowing how long it takes for you to get things done.  To help kids make time work for them, they must first learn the basics: how to measure time. .

It's an easy game and my boys are out for blood.

ZINGO! Time-Telling

I remember when my son was learning how to tell time in school.  He had to draw the hands on the clock of a 7:45. But what's this I see? Uh, why is the hour hand point DIRECTLY to 7? 

Stuff like that bugs me. I don't care if I'm not the teacher and they didn't teach that yet, how can I NOT SAY SOMETHING? I have to.  I just do. But what happens next? I find that my son really dislikes pointing the hour hand to those "in between" spaces.  Nope, it MUST point to a number. There can be no questions.

I love how the hands are two different colors.  That is so helpful! And the hour hand is exactly where it should be.  For young learners, sometimes that hour hand's location bugs them to no end. 

9:00 and 12:15 are rather simple.  Like all the other Zingo games, green is easier.

Luckily my son now gets it and I gather my little one will too but here's the thing: How they get there is important to me.  I want my kids to be okay with time.  I want them to use it to have ... well, a good time.  Often, kids look at the time to know that something good is coming to an end or something terrible is about to begin.  Time is not their friend and we don't want that.

Thanks to ZINGO! for using their fool-proof recipe ZINGO! recipe for helping kids to learn how to tell time. Unlike a worksheet, kids will care less about fine motor control (it's not that easy to draw a tiny straight line and don't talk to me about erasures!).  I think when I was little, we had construction paper and those tacks with the two legs that you use to allow your hour hands to turn.  Thus ZINGO! Time-Telling is marvelously devised because it focuses on the teaching of time-telling and doesn't let graphomotor issues ever get in the way.  It's the ZINGO! way play and learn and it is good.

I love that the red sides ask you to remember what times you have.  Brilliant!

THINK!  REMEMBER! And get ready to MOVE!

Same trusty ZINGO chips! Thank you!

Make Time Be On Your Side- With the Time-Timer New Plus

I have talked about Time Timers here probably at least five times but it never gets old.  And there newest Timer addition is the Time Timer PLUS at it is super duper. 


I actually did most of this review in video because that is the BEST way to get to know the PLUS.  Listen me drop, tap, turn up the volume and lower it so that you can hear and see closeup just what is so great about the Time Timer Plus.

Get to Know Yourself

If you are size 12 then you know what clothing to buy. But how do you know how much time you should allot to homework if you don't know how long homework takes you.   This is one reason why the timer works well.  Kids and grown-ups can continue to glance at it so that they get a better sense of how long it takes to do something.  For example, if Jake realizes that it takes 2 minutes to do each math problem but then one problem takes so long, he would take some time to get more help.  The Time Timer Plus puts things into perspective; "I wasn't always this slow at this stuff. I must be doing something wrong."

 

The volume is adjustamle now.

Alison Berkeley, one of my go-to educational experts and co-director of Emerge and See Education Center described the time to me in a way that I had never heard before. ""This timer takes time, which is elusive, and makes it not just visual but you also give it spatial recognition," said Alison.  I love that because that is exactly how my kid learns best so the Time Timers in my home are one of our favorite tools! 

Put an average kitchen time and the Time Timer and your phone timer side to side.  Your Time Timer will match your phone much much better.  It's that good.

Just so you can see how big it is.  This is a Magic Tree house book.

And NOW.......

USE Rafflecopter to Enter This Amazing Contest to Win Your Game and Timer!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TO BUY ONLINE through Jenn's Special Affiliate Links: TRY SHOPPING at Different Roads to Learning.

Different Roads to Learning

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Disclosure:  Toys are Tools was not compensated by the manufacturers of anything mentioned here for the publication of this review.  The reviewed items were provided to Toys are Tools to facilitate a review.  Reviews are never promised.