Snack Time Clock

Do you hear the words, "Can I have a snack?" all day long like I do?  Seems like every time I turn around I have a child under my feet asking for a snack and my youngest little pumpkin in particular can eat a meal and then be asking for a snack 1/2 an hour later.  Drives me BANANAS!!! So I created the snack time clock and it has become the authority on snack time in our house.  It is incredibly easy to make one-though I am sure you could craft it up as much as you want.  I needed something that was visual since my kids are too young to tell time or read.  So I bought a basic face clock at Walmart for $3.95

I flipped it over and unscrewed the tiny screws on the back.

Now you can flip it back over and take off the outer ring and glass.

I painted the hour hand yellow (any bright color will work)

Then I colored my snack time sections with yellow marker and added food stickers (the fruits and veggies stickers are to trick all you readers into believing that I only feed my children those things for snacks).

Let the paint dry, replace the glass and outer ring, and screw the screws back in.  And there you have it.  Now when my kids ask for a snack I refer them to the clock.  If the yellow hand is pointing to a yellow section then they can have a snack.  If not then they have to wait (though there are sometimes exceptions).  And in case anyone is questioning my snack time hours let me explain.  We usually eat breakfast at 8:30 or 9:00 and lunch at 1:30 so an 11:00am snack time is right in between those times.  Having the whole section colored doesn't mean they can eat for an entire hour either.  The 3:00 snack time works too because we usually eat at 6:00 for dinner.  Of course you would make it work for your family.  Perhaps more snack times if you have small children or health issues.  It is just a great visual for your kids and eliminates the constant whining for snacks.  The clock now becomes the one to blame if you don't hand out food.  A quick and easy fix for something that drives every mom crazy.