Skip to the content

Fun timers

Ten free animated classroom timers where the picture is the time: a gorilla eats a pizza, a rocket burns its fuel, a snowman melts. No account, no ads, counts up or down, with a sound at the end.

5:00

Keys: Space start or pause · R reset · ← → 30 seconds · 1 8 the presets · S next scene · U count up or down · C move or hide the clock · M sound · H hear the sound · F full screen

How to use it

  1. Pick a picture. The scene fills the screen and the clock is a small chip in the corner, so a child who cannot read a clock can still see how much is left.
  2. Set a length with the presets or Custom, and press Start or Space. Press U to count up to the time instead of down to zero.
  3. Press F for full screen, C to move or hide the clock, M for the sound and H to hear it before your class does.

Ideas for class

  • Keep one open on the projector all day and change the picture between lessons with S.
  • Use a countable picture — the pizza, the gumballs, the books — with a class that cannot tell the time yet.
  • Use one that arrives rather than empties — the rocket, the train, the egg — for a transition that should feel like a beginning.
  • Count up for tidying up, a read-aloud or a fluency minute, where the job is to keep going rather than to beat a clock.
  • Copy the address after you have set it: the link opens the same picture at the same length tomorrow.
  • Turn the sound off with M for a test, or down to Soft for a room that is already noisy enough.

Related

Questions

What makes these different from any other free timer?

The picture is the time, not decoration: three slices of pizza left means three eighths of the time is left, and the clock is a chip you can move or hide. All ten run on the same countdown, which cannot drift, and all ten count both ways.

Do they work on a smart board and an old laptop?

Yes. The buttons are at least 64 pixels tall, nothing needs a hover, every scene is drawn as plain graphics rather than video, and each page loads only the picture it is showing. Once a page has loaded it keeps working with no network.

Can the children see them at home?

The children's side of Peabody has its own timers with jobs picked by picture, turn-taking and a voice that counts the last ten out loud. These pages are the teachers' versions of the same ten pictures.

Is anything saved about my class?

No. There is nothing to sign in to and nothing is sent to us: the picture you chose last is remembered in this browser, and the length, scene and direction ride in the address after the #, which browsers never send to a server.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. Names, lists and settings stay in this browser. No sign-in, no ads.