Got the Time? Players collect sets of cards from each other that show the same time, but in different ways. Age Range: 6 to 9 Skills Used: telling time, reading Number of Players: 3 to 5 Noise Level: low Activity Level: low Materials: time cards
Setup Prepare cards to show the time in three formats: analog, digital, and in words, or copy and use the time cards provided. The basic game can have 12 sets of these three types of cards using full hours.
How to Play
Players must give the card that is requested if they are holding it. The player asking for cards can continue to ask for cards from any player as long as the requests are successful. Any sets collected this way are placed on the table and counted as one point. If the player doesn’t have the requested card, he or she says, “Time out.” The asker then chooses a card from the middle and his or her turn is over. Players continue to take turns asking each other for cards until a player runs out of cards. The winner is the one who has collected the most sets.
Variations Add cards to include times on the half hour
and quarter hour. This game is played similar to Go Fish. Five cards are dealt to each player. Players who find any matching set of three in their hand can immediately put these cards on the table and draw replacements before the game begins. Extra cards are left facedown in the middle of the table. The first player chooses any other player and asks for a specific card that goes with a card in his or her hand. Questions might be: “Do you have the digital six o’clock?” “Do you have the words for ten o’clock?” or “Do you have the clock face that shows one o’clock?”
Math Games
The questions can be modified to be more
general, as in “Do you have any four o’clocks?” The person being asked then must surrender all of the applicable cards at once. This variation can speed up the game. For younger players who may not read the
word cards as well, the game can be modified to include only the analog and digital cards. Adding a card that pictures a broken clock makes the game suitable for use with Old Maid rules.
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