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8 best children's clocks

Whether you’re teaching them to tell the time or putting the finishing touches to a nursery, there’s a ticker for that

Pippa Bailey,Sally Newall
Thursday 03 September 2015 18:09 BST

Teach them a valuable life skill, encourage good behaviour with a schedule or just jazz up a nursery or bedroom wall with one of our favourite kids' clocks, whether you're looking for an ethically-made fair trade piece or something cheap and cheerful.

1. Rocket Clock: £22, lankakade.co.uk

Fair Trade company Lanka Kade sells toys and kids’ decor produced by family enterprises in Sri Lanka. This wooden space ship clock is hand-painted and has a silent tick for peace and quiet come bedtime. Other designs include a princess castle and pirate ship.

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2. Tinch Design Studio Dots Restickable Wall Clock: £46.96, etsy.com/uk

It’s not cheap, but this colourful, contemporary number makes a nice alternative to cutesy children’s designs. It comes with twelve dots (personalise by choosing your own colours and patterns) and separate mechanism, all of which can be arranged, taken down and re-stuck however you want.

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3. Time Teacher Wall Clock: £25, gltc.co.uk

This simple design is brilliant for young kids trying to get to grips with telling the time. The red little hand corresponds to red hour numbers, while the blue minute hand matches up to the minute numbers (in intervals of five, 5, 10, 1/4, 20, 25, 1/2 etc) and the two halves of the clock are labelled ‘to’ and ‘past’.

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4. Karlsson Chalkboard Cube Wall Clock: £27.50, black-by-design.co.uk

Add your own numbers to the face of this blackboard clock or let the kids decorate it themselves. Personalise to help them tell the time, or, if you’ve got an early-riser who’s too young to learn, try marking their wake-up time so they know when they’re allowed to get up.

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5. Retro Robot Clock: £38, notonthehighstreet.com

This vintage-looking robot was originally imagined by cult 60s designer Clifford Richards. Brought to life in steel by the Gloucester-based Original Metal Box Company, there are five designs to choose from. Each comes with a spaceship-shaped stand to go on a bedside table, or it can be mounted on the wall.
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6. Stripey Cats Personalised Shark: £35, johnlewis.com

Stripey Cats makes these fun clocks in a range of googly-eyed animal designs, from sharks to squirrels . You can get them personalised with a child’s name and each comes in a white wooden frame so it can be hung or put on its side. It comes in a gift box so is a nice one if you need a pressie for a lucky young recipient.
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7. Spike Natural Wooden Hedgehog Wall Clock: £18, habitat.co.uk

If you don’t want anything too garish for a child’s bedroom, this simple wooden clock in a hedgehog or elephant shape from Habitat has appeal for animal-loving little ones, but the natural colour means they won’t want to change it when their allegiance to a certain colour wanes.
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8. Henry’s Boat Wall Clock With Pendulum: £35.90, amazon.co.uk

London-based Roger Lascelles specialises in vintage-looking clocks. For children it makes these whimsical clocks with pendulums. Designs range from fairies and rabbits to this sweet boaty design. The numbers are large enough for them to see the time easily, too.
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Verdict:
Lanka Kade and Habitat's clocks are both good-value and have appealing designs that kids will be drawn to. For little ones yet to master telling the time, GLTC's clock will help them get to grips with it. Anyone looking to give a clock for a present, Stripey Cat's animal-themed ones make a special gift.

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