Jam Ajaib

About this game

Jam Ajaib (Magic Clock) is a telling-time game for kids. The clock tower in Second Town has stopped, and you help Tiko the owl bring it back by turning the clock hands. Each question is tied to a daily activity, such as breakfast, leaving for school, and bedtime.

There are two kinds of questions: set the clock by dragging the minute hand (the hour hand moves with it like a real clock), and read the clock by picking the right time. The material builds across 4 chapters: o'clock, half past, quarters, and minutes past and to. Each finished level lights a window in the town clock tower.

What this game trains

Beyond telling the short (hour) hand from the long (minute) hand, children practise Indonesian time words: "tepat" (o'clock), "setengah" (half), "lewat seperempat" (quarter past), "kurang seperempat" (quarter to), and "lewat"/"kurang" a number of minutes. Reading "setengah 8" as 7:30 is the part that most often needs repeating.

Twelve everyday activities

Times use the 12-hour clock face, so "8 o'clock" can be morning or evening. The activity helps children work out which one is meant.

Minutes in each chapter

• O'Clock: always minute 00.
• Half Past: mostly minute 30, with an occasional 00 for review.
• Quarters: minutes 15 and 45, plus 30.
• Minutes: 05, 10, 20, 25, 35, 40, 50, and 55, meaning 5 to 25 minutes past or to.

Within a level, "Set the clock" and "What time is it?" questions alternate, so children practise both reading and setting a clock.

Answer choices that look alike on purpose

In "What time is it?" questions, wrong choices are picked at random from a set of traps. One of them is swapped hands: the time you would read if you mistook the long hand for the hour hand. Other traps are one hour earlier or later, or two hours later. From the Half Past chapter, a choice can be 30 minutes off, and from Quarters, 15 minutes off. If a child picks the swapped-hands answer, ask them to point at the short hand first before reading the minutes.

Controls

• Touch / mouse: drag the blue hand, or use the + and − buttons for hours and minutes. Tap an answer on read-the-clock questions.
• Keyboard: ← → minutes, ↑ ↓ hours, Enter check, 1–4 choose an answer, Esc pause.

Quick guide

1. Read the activity and its time on the card.
2. Drag the minute hand; the hour hand follows.
3. Press Done! to check, then light every tower window.

Read the full guide · Teaching kids to tell the time