Tracking Time

What You Need

• Stopwatch, watch or clock
• Newspaper
• Blank paper
• Graph paper
• Ruler
• Small round object to trace to make a pie chart

What to Do

• Show your child how to keep track of the time he spends on two activities, such as watching television and doing homework. Help him to make a chart with two columns, one labeled "Television" and one labeled "Homework." Down the left side of the chart, write the days of the week. Tell him that you want him to write the number of minutes he spends doing each activity on each day. At the end of the week, sit down with him and talk about what the table shows.

• Help your child to make a chart to use as he watches television. Give him a stop watch (or an easy-to-read clock or watch) and tell him to record how much time of each television show is used for commercials and how much time is used for the actual show. Have him keep the record for one night of viewing. On the graph paper, help him to make a bar graph that shows the different amounts of time devoted to the show and to commercials. Or, show him how to make a pie chart.

• Together with your child, keep track of how he spends time in one 24-hour period: time spent sleeping, eating, playing, reading and going to school. Help him to measure a strip of paper 24 inches long, with each inch representing one hour. Using a different color for each activity, have him color the number of hours he spends in each activity. You and other family members can make similar charts; then your child can compare the charts and see how everyone in the family spends time.