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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Balloon bunch timer v0.2.0

A free animated classroom timer: a bunch of ten balloons floating away one by one, and the last one drifts off at zero. Any length, counting down or up, with the clock a small chip in the corner.

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. Press Start, or Space. The picture is the time: a bunch of ten balloons floating away one by one, and the last one drifts off at zero.
  2. It opens at 5 minutes. Press a preset, or Custom to type a length such as 7:30; press U to count up to the time instead of down to zero.
  3. Press F to fill the screen, C to move or hide the clock chip, M for the sound and H to hear it first.

Ideas for class

  • Use it for a five minute settle after break: ten balloons, so each one that floats off is half a minute.
  • Count the balloons still tied on with a young class and ask how many have gone, which is subtraction they can see.
  • Run it counting up while balloons are tied on, for a job the class is building towards together.
  • Put it up for a party-day tidy-up and let the empty post at the end be the finish line.
  • Pick it for a quiet room: the balloons drift rather than burst, and the end sound is three soft pops.

Related

Questions

How many balloons are there, and what is each one worth?

Ten, so each balloon is a tenth of the time you set: on a five minute timer one balloon is thirty seconds, on a twenty minute one it is two minutes. The balloon on its way up rises the whole of its turn, so something is always moving.

Does anything pop or make a loud bang?

No. The balloons slip their strings and float off the top of the picture; nothing bursts on screen. The end sound is a squeak and three soft pops, and Soft is the default volume if the room is jumpy about bangs.

Will the balloon bunch timer keep the right time if I switch tabs?

Yes. The timer compares the clock when you pressed Start with the clock now, so a sleeping tab, a slow laptop or a dropped frame cannot make it drift, and the picture is drawn from the time rather than from its own speed.

Is it really free, and does it need an account?

Free, no account, no ads, and nothing about your class leaves the computer: the length, the picture and the direction live in the address after the # so you can bookmark or share them, and that part is never sent to us.

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