Tina the Tiny Train and Clock Activities and Craft

Choo-Choo! All aboard! Meet Tina the Tiny Train. Children will have fun learning to tell time as a train picks up different objects whose names begin with the letter t, such as a tiger, a tulip, a trumpet, and a tomato. It's also a great book to introduce your children to the initial consonant blend /tr/ sound.

Before Reading

Ask children if they ever have been on a train. Discuss that a train can carry lots of things (people, cargo, animals). Discuss that trains depart from a train station at different times. A train schedule displays the times a train leaves the station. 

Clocks and Telling Time

Show children an analog clock and ask them why it is used. Show them that the hands move around in a “clockwise” direction all the time. Let children move the longer hand around one time. Explain that the longer hand is the minute hand and the shorter hand shows the hour. Move the longer hand around the clock and demonstrate as the minute hand moves, the hour hand also moves but at a slower rate. Explain that the minute hand needs to go all around the clock for 60 minutes until the little hand to points to a different number. Point and name the different numbers on the clock in order.

Explain to children that you will read a book about a train that picks up different objects from a train station at different times. As you read the book, change the time on the clock (or on their paper plate clock) to match the time on the booklet.

During Reading

Have children listen to the online Twiggle Book Tina the Tiny Train or read it to children. Afterwards, give children a chance to read the book with you or aloud to you. 

After Reading

Let children color the Tina the Train coloring page or write and draw to expand on the story. For independent reading, print out the printable version of the booklet. Children can also practice writing and reading the words from the story.

Language

Clock Song
(Tune: The Wheels on the Bus)
Adapted by Jolanda Garcia, KidsSoup Inc.

The hands on the clock go round and round,
Round and round, round and round.
The hands on the clock go round and round,
All day long.

The short hand on the clock
Goes from number to number,
Number to number, number to number.
The short hand on the clock
Goes from number to number,
All day long.

The long hand on the clock
shows us the minutes,
shows us the minutes, shows us the minutes,
The long hand on the clock
shows us the minutes,
All day long.

The skinny hand on the clock
ticks every second,
every second, every second,
The skinny hand on the clock
ticks every second,
All day long.

All the hands on the clock
tell us the time,
tell us the time, tell us the time,
All the hands on the clock
tell us the time,
All day long.

Arts and Crafts

Paper Plate Clock

You'll need:
Paper plate, red and black craft paper, craft foam or craft paper circles, black marker, glue, brass fastener

Write the numbers 1-12 on the craft foam circles.

With a black marker, write the number 1-12 on the paper plate.

Let children glue the circle number on top of the matching numbers on the clock. 

Drill a hole in the middle of the plate. Cut a one inch wide strip out of both craft paper. Fold in half lengthwise and glue together.

Cut strip in to a short and a long hand.

Drill a hole to the bottom of each hand and attach to the paper plate with a brass fastener. Flatten the legs of the brass fastener at the back of the clock. 

Math

Use the paper plate clock to show the time. Print out the movement clock cards and cut out. Let children copy the time on to their paper plate clock. What time is it? 

Time Movement Cards

 

Movement and Game

Look at the movement cards together. Tell the time and make the movement (dance, hop, crawl, etc.) that's shown on the card. Place the card inside a basket. Recite the rhyme:

Tick Tock Goes the Clock
by Jolanda Garcia, KidsSoup Inc.

Tick tock goes the clock
and what shall we see? (Pick a card from the basket.)
Tick tock it's one o'clock!
Can you dance with me? (Make movements together.)

Repeat until no more cards are left in the basket.

Clock Snack Idea

What you need:
Sliced bread
Peanut butter
M&Ms or small carrot slices
celery stick

What you do:
With a glass or circle cookie cutter cut a circle out of a piece of bread. 

Spread peanut butter the bread circle and let children count and pick 12 candy pieces or carrot slices and place them on the bread. For the clock fingers, cut two small strips from a celery stick and place them on the clock. What time is it?

Book Suggestion:

Extension:

Available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library: Nursery Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock

View also our other nursery rhymes activities, crafts, rhymes, games, and printables:

 

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