Skill Development – Understanding the Concept of Time

The concept and understanding of time is an essential life skill that last a lifetime! Equipped with our beautiful 2017 calendar (with highlights of 2016 events), our daily schedule, and children’s storybooks featuring time related concepts, our preschoolers are learning and experiencing the concept of time.

By learning the names of the days of the week, they have learned how to make reasonable predictions about what is going to happen on a particular day. In the area of literacy we continue with the letter “J”. Using J as the foundation, conceptually we are beginning to understand and learn about seasons (e.g. in January it is winter in June and July it is summer). We continue to work on the concept of time. We know that children use personal experiences to help them understand the concept of time.  Hence, we have also been discussing events relative to the understanding of time. The older children are aware of the days of the week and the schedule associated with each day. They know that there are 7 days in a week and 4 weeks in a month.   This practice and application of time concepts come with opportunity to further strengthen the children’s of math skills throughout the day!

We know that a predicable routine/schedule is good for children.  Our predicable daily schedule: breakfast, group/learning time, lunch, nap etc. comes with opportunity to use words like “before”, “after”, “right now”, “later”, “ in a moment”, “in the morning”, “in the afternoon,” etc. which children understand. It is an understanding based on their experience. The daily schedule allows children to know what is coming after each interaction and/or engagement. Children need this personal experience in order to understand the concept of time.  It is a known fact that time management is a foundational component for academic and career success.

We welcome your contribution to this very important topic – What are you doing or have you done to help children develop a sense of time?