Children's books and activities
Time and Time Travel
Do you know any kids who are curious about the science of clocks and sundials, or who wonder what time travel would be like? We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about time and time travel.
Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as telling time and time travel. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.
Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Print List
Clocks and More Clocks
By: Pat Hutchins
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Dinosaur Train
By: John Steven Gurney
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Does Jesse travel back in time or is an imaginative jaunt when he boards a train with a...
Telling Time
By: Jules Older
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Time isn't an easy concept for kids to grasp, but young readers will delight in learning all...
The Clock Struck One: A Time-Telling Tale
By: Trudy Harris
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Concept Book
Time Flies
By: Eric Rohmann
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Fiction
A wordless time-travel adventure and a meditation on the scientific theory that dinosaurs were...
Time Train
By: Paul Fleischman
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Join Miss Pym's students as they take a memorable train trip across the U.S. to a time and...
Train Leaves the Station
By: Eve Merriam
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Water in the Park
By: Emily Jenkins
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A catalog of ordinary events that occur in a park between sunrise and sunset, these scenarios...
What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile?
By: Judy Sierra
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Print List
Big Papa and the Time Machine
By: Daniel Bernstrom
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
A heartfelt journey into African American history. When a little boy is feeling afraid to go to...
Carnival at Candlelight
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House series)
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Flotsam
By: David Wiesner
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Gold in the Hills: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Rush
By: Candice Ransom
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve
By: Mary Pope Osborne
Age Level: 6-9 years old
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum
By: Jessie Hartland
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The history of the Hatshepsut sphinx: from its carving in ancient Egypt to its arrival in the...
It's All Greek to Me
By: Jon Scieszka
Age Level: 6-9 years old
In this installment of friends known as the Time Warp Trio, Joe, Fred, and Sam meet key figures...
Just a Second
By: Steve Jenkins
Age Level: 6-9 years old
In just a second, a bat can make 200 calls, a black mamba snake can slither 24 feet, four babies...
Me Counting Time: From Seconds to Centuries
By: Joan Sweeney
Age Level: 6-9 years old
My First Book of Time
By: Claire Llewellyn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nine O’Clock Lullaby
By: Marilyn Singer
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Tar Beach
By: Faith Ringgold
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Cassie doesn't have to actually go to the beach; she's got her very own "tar...
The First Drawing
By: Mordicai Gerstein
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An illustration of a contemporary boy with pencil in hand stands in front of a blank piece of...
The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs
By: Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Everyone's favorite science teacher is back as Ms. Frizzle takes her class on a journey...
Ticktock Banneker's Clock
By: Shana Keller
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
The story of 18th century African American scientist Benjamin Banneker and his three-year...
Time Zones
By: David Adler
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Why is the time different in New York and in Tokyo at the same moment? How time zones were...
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Print List
A Wrinkle in Time
By: Madeleine L'Engle
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
How the Murray children search through time to find and save their missing scientist father...
Anno's Sundial
By: Mitsumasa Anno
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Explains how the earth's movements around the sun and the resulting movement of shadows have...
Dinosaur Empire! Journey through the Mesozoic Era
By: Abby Howard
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
Travel back in time to the age of the dinosaurs with fifth-grader Abby and her neighbor—Ms....
Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time
By: James Gurney
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
In this fantasy classic, young readers imagine an isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked...
Knights of the Kitchen Table (Time Warp Trio series)
By: Jon Scieszka
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Fiction
As a gift from his magician uncle, Joe receives The Book setting into motion a series of...
On the Blue Comet
By: Rosemary Wells
Age Level: 9-12 years old
The Great Depression changed everything for 11-year-old Oscar and his widowed dad. Oscar's...
Secrets of Stonehenge
By: Mick Manning
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Why was this amazing monument erected? How did our Stone-Age ancestors bring such massive stones...
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
By: Brian Selznick
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Image and text combine in a unique presentation to tell the story of an orphan boy who lives...
Hands-on Activities
Build on what you're learning together through books with these family-friendly activities, experiments, and crafts.
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Ancient Stone Circle
BBC Hands on History -
Picture Writing: Hieroglyph Scroll
Start with a Book -
Roman Villa
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Stone Sundial
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Sun Clock
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Time Capsule
BBC Hands on History -
Travel the Time Zones
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Viking Helmet
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Viking Longship
Summer Writing
Give kids a chance to flex their writing muscles all summer long. Try one of these prompts, selected from our writing contest archives and other literacy organizations.
Great Websites for Kids
Dive deeper into topics of interest with these media-rich and interactive sites.
Great Podcasts for Kids
Listen and learn with these podcasts especially for kids. These podcasts are free and easy to listen to from any device via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher — or from Listen Notes, a podcast search engine.
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Adventures in Time
Homeschool Hub -
Clocks: A Brief History of Telling Time
Brains On: Forever Ago
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T-Rex Is Coming
Hello Family
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The Magic Sash: Women's Suffrage
TRAX from PRX and Gen-Z Media
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Timestorm
Cocotazo Media
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Treasure Island 2020
Gen-Z Media/BYU Radio
Educational Apps
Educational apps recommended by Common Sense Media and other trusted reviewers.
More Themed Resources
Growing Readers Tip Sheets
Simple activities for parents and kids to do together to build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Read online or print the PDF.
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Teaching Sequence
Download PDF: English | Spanish
Washington DC for Kids
