Dinosaur Watches for Kids Learning to Tell Time

The best dinosaur watch for learning to tell time is analog, with every number from 1 to 12, minute marks and two clearly different hands. Timex’s 29mm Time Machines Dinosaur watch has a full dial with minute markers. Common Core math teaches hours and half-hours in first grade, so a learning watch fits ages 6 to 8.

When kids learn to tell time in school

Kids learn to tell time in steps, and a watch helps most when it matches the step. The Common Core math standards set this order:

A preschooler can wear a dinosaur watch for fun, but its teaching value starts when the lessons do. If your child’s school uses different standards, ask the teacher which grade covers time.

What a dinosaur watch dial needs for learning

A dinosaur watch teaches time when the dial is easy to read, with the dinosaur on the strap or the edge rather than across the numbers. Check these four points in the listing photos:

1. All twelve numbers. Some fashion dials show only 12, 3, 6 and 9, which makes reading the hour harder.
2. Minute numbers or marks. A ring of 5, 10, 15 and so on helps second graders count by fives.
3. Hands that look different. A short, thick hour hand and a long, thin minute hand, ideally in two colors.
4. A clear background. A large dinosaur printed behind the hands can hide them.

Timex dinosaur and Time Teacher watches compared

Timex’s kids collection includes the Time Machines 29mm Dinosaur (TW7C77300) and a separate line aimed at learning time. Both use a quartz analog movement with an SR626SW button cell, according to Timex’s product pages.

Timex lists both straps as fitting wrists of about 5.3 to 7.5 inches, so measure the child’s wrist first: a very small wrist may be under that range. The Time Teacher has no dinosaur on it, so it suits a child who wants a learning dial more than the theme. Timex says its 30-meter rating covers hand-washing and accidental splashes only, not swimming.

Analog or digital dinosaur watch?

An analog dinosaur watch teaches the shape of an hour, while a digital one gives the answer in numbers. The Common Core asks first and second graders to read both kinds of clock, so neither choice is wrong. A light-up digital dinosaur watch makes a fun second watch once a child has learned the dial. Some watches show both, but check that the face is still easy to read.

Watch batteries and small charms

Kids’ analog watches such as Timex’s run on a small button cell. CPSC’s button battery rule (Reese’s Law) requires consumer products made or imported after March 19, 2024 with replaceable button or coin batteries to have compartments that need a tool, or two independent and simultaneous hand movements, to open.

Change the battery away from younger siblings and throw the old cell away at once. For toddlers, small charms or clip-on dinosaurs on a strap are a concern too, since CPSC bans small parts in toys meant for children under 3.

A dinosaur watch suits a first grader starting to learn time, a birthday for a 6 or 7 year old, or a stocking stuffer. Pair it with a new dinosaur backpack for school, or see dinosaur gifts for kids 6 to 12 and our guide to dinosaur gifts for every age for more ideas.