Saturday, February 7, 2009

Toy Clock

This is NOT a clock application. It won't tell you the current time of the day. There is already an app included in your iPhone or iPod touch that does just that. Instead, this is an application to teach your child, or anyone for that matter, how to read a time shown on a clock.

A clock has two kinds of hand: an hour-hand and a minute-hand. In this application, the hour-hand is represented by the blue arrow, while the minute-hand is represented by the red arrow. You can adjust both arrows by touching and dragging them around the screen. As the arrows are dragged around, corresponding blue and red guides appear to help you see where they are being moved to. The red minute hand moves in discrete intervals of 1-minute, while the blue hour hand can move smoothly and continuously.

There are 2 ways to play and learn all about clocks and time:

Set the clock:
You will be given a time. Your objective is to move the hour and minute hands to show the clock displaying the time given. Once you have adjusted both hands, press the Answer button, at the top right corner, to check your solution.

Tell the time:
You will be a given a clock arrangement with both hands positioned in a certain way. Your objective is to tell the time shown by pressing one of the buttons displayed on the screen.

The exercises given above will let your child practise setting a clock and reading a time shown on a clock. Both 12 hour and 24 hour notations can be used. In addition, you can learn to express time as a phrase. In other words, besides the numerical expression like 10:15, time can also be expressed as a phrase like Quarter past 10.

A new Mixed mode of game play is now available. There is an option to simulate and learn the movement of the hands of a clock. This is useful to show and explain how they move in relation to each other.

Please also read the Instructions page for more details about the Threshold setting.



Here is a video demonstration of this application:




More screen shots:






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