Classroom Countdown Timer

A simple classroom utility timer that can be used to time very short tasks of less than a minute using seconds mode. For longer activities use the minutes mode and select times of up to an hour. Use the duration slider to set the exact time you want.

Starters and Plenaries

To keep starters and plenaries focused and in a set time use the timer. This can make sure that starter activity doesn’t begin to eat into the actual lesson time.

Classroom management

Timers can be quite effective in helping children to focus and get organized. For example the timer can be set to 40 seconds at the start of the class. Give the instruction that every child has their pen, pencil, ruler, books etcs ready by the time the count down has completed.

For motivation, for example setting a task such as completing ten sums in two minutes. Children will jump to get started when they see the countdown begin.

Related Activities

The timer can be used as an initial introduction of time, so pupils can start to appreciate how long minutes and seconds are. Moving on to more advanced clock activity which can be used to teach how to tell the time, or even just show the current time in the classroom.

Another activity that uses this timer is the random spinners which can be used as game to work out how to get a number from the spinner values using add,subtract and multiply.