VStoy Security Fashion Hourglass Sand Timer … (Orange 20 Minutes)

This is exactly what I've been looking for. I use this timer at naptime. I put it on the mantle and the kids know they must lie quietly until the sand runs out. It is large enough that they can see it easily and it is plastic and sturdy so they can play with it during the day. This has made my life much easier and gives the little ones who haven't developed an good sense of time yet, a way to see how much time has passed. The second day, my 2 year old sat up when there was only about 10 minutes left and said, "tiny sand". Now they fall asleep after a few minutes most days since they are not worried about whether it's time to get up yet. It says time may vary up to 10 minutes but mine is exactly 60 minutes.

This is an excellent and sturdy sand timer. When I pulled it out of the box my son reacted with astonished delight because it turns out that his second-grade teacher had a whole set of these timers in her classroom. It does work as a timer, but this is thousands-year-old technology; I really only used timing my son's homework as an excuse to get a big sand timer. If you used to play with egg timers or the minute timers that come in some games, but wished they would run longer, you will love this. Everyone in the family has spent at least 20 minutes just watching the sand fall. My son does occasionally use it for his homework but usually uses a modern timer cube instead, which is more practical. I've used the sand timer for piano practice, and the nice feature for this purpose is the lack of an annoying alarm - if the sand runs out in the middle of a song I can keep playing to the end of the song without interruption. But mostly we use this as a somewhat mesmerizing toy. The timer is accurate in the sense that it will always run for the exact same amount of time; this time may differ from 20 minutes by up to 10%, as is clearly stated on the top of the timer, so an individual timer will have a "setting" (not adjustable) of between 18 and 22 minutes.

We got this when my son was 3 1/2 and starting to have some behavior issues. Until he started preschool, he was my sweet little guy. Around the time he started school, around 3 1/2, he started talking back, which I suppose is normal. In the past, he listened to me, but it started getting to the point that I started implementing time-outs. Since he's young, and I want the time-out to be a somewhat positive thing where he can give himself time to cool off (rather than me yelling & having it being a punishment), I got this big red timer. It's easy for him to see & understand the progress. I ask him to sit in the chair until the timer is over. If he gets up, I set it on it's side to pause, put him back in the chair, and repeat. We've tried other timers (digital clock which he can't really read or me just telling him when the time is up) but they haven't worked. I think that since he can see & understand, this one gives him a little sense of control - or at least he knows how much time he's got left. He actually responded surprisingly well to it that I use it to help him understand when bath time is, when nap time is, when to turn off the kindle, etc. I just tell him he can do xyz until the timer's up then he needs to do the next thing. He thinks it's "his" timer now & it's actually helped with not only time-outs, but transitions in general. He was having some transition issues at school too (not going to circle time when asked, not cleaning up when asked) so I got one for his teacher. It's kind of lame that he sits there staring at this thing for a minute before each transition, but at least he's not throwing transition related fits in school. At the end of the school year I asked for it back so we can use it for next year's class.

I rarely take the time to write reviews on products that I buy. I admit it I'm very lazy. But I thought I'd drop a quick line or two about how absolutely terrible this 20 minute hour glass is. When the VStoy hourglass arrived, it comes as a standard hourglass encased in a hard plastic container. But when we got ours the hourglass was crooked inside the container. No big deal I thought, this thing is cheap. Don't expect much. And even though my expectations were in the cellar, this piece of crap still manages to disappoint. After 4 or 5 uses, sand began to slowly work it's way out of the hourglass and into the hard container. And after maybe 5 more uses after that it actually started to spill out of the container and onto the table! Wow, talk about terrible build quality!! I think I paid less that 13 bucks for this junk and it feels like I spent about 12 bucks too much. Do not buy this hourglass until the reviews start to get better. AVOID!

I absolutely love this timer! I bought it for my classroom, as I have some students on behavior plans who have to mark their charts at regular intervals. This timer is perfect for them (as well as all my students) because a.) some of them cannot tell time, and b.) the timer gives them a concrete idea of time. I also use it during centers so students are aware of how much time they have left to complete a task. They like it so much, they ask to play with it during recess! In short--- this is a must have for your classroom!

I absolutely love these. Big enough to see across a room and a great visual for my kids when they are in a time out. I only give it four because it could be sturdier. One (I have 3) has some small cracks on the outside when it was dropped. Only visual not structural damage but still.

This is the timer we put next to the computer to monitor our kids computer usage and it works great. The sand is a bright enough color that I can track the time across the room. Funny aside: if someone is experiencing technical difficulties, they are allowed to "pause" their time to fix them. Most sand timers can't handle this. Because this timer has hexigonal top and bottom pieces, my boys can lay it on its side and "pause" the timer. Great design!!!

Cool in theory but the sand sticks and doesn't always flow making it more trouble to use than anything.

très pratique à utiliser avec des jeunes enfants qui ne savent pas se repérer sur une horloge...par exemple pour visualiser le temps qui reste pour finir une activité

I am a teacher and this comes in handy when you want to provide kids with a visual on how much time is left for certain activity. It is much cheaper compare to the price they are selling at the other educational supplies stores. There is a +/- 10% error, but it is not a big deal to me.

good

My students love this item and they are in awe of how it functions. I like how durable it is and it's size.

Je l'utilise pour changer d'activité avec mon enfant de 4 ans (ex aller à table, dormir, partir, etc). Ne semble pas très solide, mais pour le moment il fonctionne.