What Can You Do in One Minute?

What can you do in one minute? How long is a minute anyway?

This is a fun telling time activity that is perfect for kindergarten and first grade. We are always telling kids, “just a minute,” but kids don’t naturally have a concept of how long a minute is. They may know it’s 60 seconds, but just knowing that doesn’t provide full understanding. Here’s a fun hands-on way to discover how long a minute really is!

You can do these activities on your own, or you can print the instruction and recording sheet at the bottom of this post.

First, grab a timer. A phone works well for this, or you can use a kitchen timer or a stopwatch. You just need a way to time a minute.

• How many times can you write your name in one minute? Have kids make a guess before they grab a piece of paper and try this! They can probably write their name more times in a minute than they might think.
• How many jumping jacks can you do in a minute? Challenge kids to try it and find out.
• Can you keep a balloon in the air for one minute? Use your hand to tap the balloon to keep it in the air. Or, you can make a simple racket by taping a paper plate to a ruler.

• How many cups can you stack in a minute? Building with cups is always fun! You can use small bathroom cups like what’s pictured here, or you can use larger drink cups. I’d plan to have about 50 cups on hand for this activity. You can stack more cups in a minute than you might think…

• Can you stand on one foot for a minute? This is a fun challenge! If you have students who can’t balance on one foot, another option is to run in place for a minute.
• How many LEGO bricks can you stack in one minute? Get out your LEGO bin and see how tall a tower kids can build in one minute.

What else can you do in a minute? If your students can read, you can see how many words they can read in a minute. Or how many numbers they can write in a minute. So many possibilities!

Ready to print your activity page? Click the link below. The file will open and you can view or print from there.

CLICK HERE: What Can You Do in One Minute Activity Page

More kindergarten and first grade math activities:

Here’s a collection of Hands-On Coin Counting Activities for ages 5 – 7

Then here’s a collection of the Best Hands-On Addition Activities for kids.