Todo Telling Time

Editor's Note: Todo Telling Time is no longer available.

Every aspect of Todo Telling Time puts time right in front of kids, from the start screen with the day's calendar page and current time on digital and analog clocks to the time report after each completed game. Six mini-games challenge kids to build time-telling skills and concepts. In "Days of the Week," kids order the days of the week, the months of the year, and the dates on a calendar. "Ferris Wheel" uses the ride as the face of a clock, and kids put numbered seats in the correct positions, starting with 1 to 12 and moving up five levels to 1 to 59. Kids also practice skip counting by fives to understand the minute hand on the clock. In the "Schedule" game, kids turn the hands on the clock to the specified time of day for the assigned activity: 8:00 a.m. -- "It's time for the school bus!" The challenge advances to having kids set the clock to more abstract times, like two hours past 12:00. Kids work with digital clocks in "Train Time," interpret clocks and answer quiz questions in "Time Quiz," and combine memory skills with numbers on the face of a clock in "Memory." Tapping the triangle at the bottom right of the screen pulls up a grid of all the games and levels, making it easy to go directly to the appropriate challenge. Kids (or parents) can even view a calendar showing a summary of their play each day. Kids can see a calendar -- again further reinforcing the concept of measuring time -- showing a star for each day they played Todo Telling Time, along with a summary of how long they played.

The attention to detail in Todo Telling Time is impressive and leads kids to a thorough understanding of time -- not just telling time on a clock, but understanding schedules and adding and subtracting minutes to determine other times. The levels of the "Schedule" mini-game are based on a typical elementary child's daily routine. Kids will get a kick out of seeing bedtime inch back 15 minutes as they advance each level, just as older siblings may have later bedtimes than they do. The fifth level of that game may be confusing for kids who are thinking literally about their own routines because the events (washing clothes, putting the dog out) occur in the wee hours of the a.m., and the difference between a.m. and p.m. isn't addressed. Within each mini-game, kids can see on the bottom of the screen a schedule of their progression, how many more questions they have, and finally a time report of how long it took them to complete the level. Levels progress automatically, but kids can skip to other levels easily, both when choosing a mini-game or from within one. One mini-game works on digital clock time, but most of the focus is on understanding hours and minutes on analog clocks, making it easy for kids to transfer their time-telling skills to real clocks.