Ten Ways We Use Visual Timers in Our Home

“I just use my phone timer” - fair, it’s easy and it’s with you most of the time.

But a timer on your phone tells your kid when time is up.

A Little Sands visual timer shows them how time passes. 

This distinction is so important in developing time-awareness and time-management from a young age. Kids under six struggle to understand the concept of time, but watching sand fall shows their brains that time is passing. 

This is the whole idea behind Little Sands, simple, wooden, child-friendly hourglass timers that slip seamlessly into your daily life?

Here’s 10 ways we use visual timers in our home:

1. Ten minute visual timer - weekend room reset, books on shelves, toys back where they belong, beds made, stray clothes/toys/hats/water bottles taken to their rightful homes. We typically do this on a Sunday night, before Robo the vacuum does a big clean.
   
   
2. Three minute visual timer - I use this when I have a quick task to get done, “Mum needs to get some laundry on, and will be with you right away.”
   
   
3. Two minute visual timer - This one is perfect for taking turns. Little brains might not understand the concept of SHARING till they are older, but taking turns is a much easier concept to get the hang of. “I get that you both want to play with the same toy. It’s your sister’s turn now, but as soon as the orange sand is at the bottom, it will be your turn.”
   
   
4. Five minute visual timer - this is my favourite for on the go. I keep it in the car, and it comes with us to the park or the playground, a perfect amount of time for “five minutes and then we have to leave.”
   
   
5. One minute visual timer - Our one minute timer lives in the bathroom. It’s perfect for brushing teeth, one minute for the little ones, and for older kids, a minute for top teeth, a minute for bottom teeth.
   
   
6. Fifteen minute visual timer - Definitely for slightly older kids, my 5 year old has been using this timer to do some writing practice. It’s perfect for homework, a good amount of time for their brains to focus, but then to take a break and run around. We all need a bit of training in longer attention spans!
   
   
7. Two minute visual timer - let’s race the timer, can you put your shoes on before the sand runs out? Perfect for getting out the door without all the mucking around and eighteen random tasks that seem to need doing just as you need to leave the house.
   
   
8. Ten minute visual timer - this is a cheeky one, but when my baby is napping, I give myself ten minutes to get some tasks done. Get the dishwasher running, do a quick tidy, get the kettle on for a tea, put a load of laundry on… and then it’s time for me to sit and rest or read while my one-year-old naps. If I don’t do this, I end up finding tasks to fill his naptime, leaving no time for me to feel rested. 
   
   
9. Three minute visual timer - in the middle of Santa hats and beards made out of bubbles, we always get carried away with bath time, and there’s endless complaints “I’m not done yet, just a little bit longer.” So when it’s really pushing bedtime, and mum and dad need a break, the three minute timer shows the kids that the transition is coming up.
   
   
10. Fifteen minute visual timer - we can’t do this list without mentioning screen-time can we? The fifteen minute timer is great for screen-time limits. Roughly two episodes of Bluey, and long enough for kids to not feel like it was ‘too quick.’ Setting the timer right next to the TV/iPad/whatever screen they’re viewing, works great, so they get an idea of how much time they have left. These visual timers have been great at reducing meltdowns when screen-time finishes. 

Have we missed any? Let us know!