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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Gumball machine timer

A free animated classroom timer: a gumball machine emptying one ball at a time, and the last gumball clatters into the dish 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 gumball machine emptying one ball at a time, and the last gumball clatters into the dish 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

  • Twelve gumballs for twelve minutes makes a minute a ball: the plainest number line in the set.
  • Use it for a transition and ask a child to count the balls left out loud.
  • Run it for five minutes with a young class learning to count backwards from twelve.
  • Count it up instead while the machine refills, for tidying up before home time.
  • Leave it on the screen during a test with the sound off: the dish fills so quietly that nobody looks up.

Related

Questions

Does every gumball mean the same amount of time?

Yes, a twelfth of whatever you set. On a twelve minute timer that is a minute each, which is why twelve and six minutes suit it best. The ball on the move rolls to the hole and then falls, so the last few seconds of each twelfth are visibly the last few seconds.

Where do the gumballs that have gone go?

Into the dish at the bottom, up to six of them, so the screen shows both what is left and what has gone. Counting up they come out of the dish and back into the globe.

Will the gumball machine 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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