Mark-N-Time
It is a dry erase clock!
A few years ago this idea was born; a better way to manage my day, and a great way to help my young kids understand our schedule. We all know that kids thrive in structure, and this was a great way to help them with that. The larger clock that I used at home was a 24 hour clock that had our schedule on it, complete with pictures (the kids were not reading yet). Here is a picture of my first prototype that hung in our kitchen.
It is 21" in diameter. The hours and lines are printed on the clock, so they are permanent. My husband and I filled in the schedule with dry-erase markers. The clock hand turns, just like any clock hand would, to tell the time, but with this clock, the hand also points to what is happening at that time - or what should be happening at that time :) The clock is dry erase, so we could add something new for the day, or change things as needed. It worked great, and the kids loved it!
At the same time, I was also working at a very hectic office. I created a smaller 12 hour clock for my office. I used it as a way to schedule all of my tasks. Today we may call it a block schedule where you block out chunks of time for a certain type of task. I always had more to do than fit into any one day at work. I would make a to-do list, but feel bad that I couldn't get it all done. I started putting the tasks on the clock and blocking out time for them and it gave me a great visual of how my day was slit up and a more realistic idea of what I could actually accomplish and helped me prioritize better.
The small clock was also great for special days. Here is a picture of the 12-hour clock filled out for our Easter Party. It lists the tasks I need done and, as you will see, in purple I had listed what needed to be cooked and when. This was a huge help to keep everything on task to get Easter Dinner on the table on time and helped my family help out with the cooking too, even if I was having fun with the kids instead of worrying about the cooking.
This smaller clock is also dry erase, with the time and lines printed and permanent. The hand travels around like any hour hand would, so it points out the time and the task at the same time!
I think I have kept these clocks all to myself for long enough. I would love to produce these so that others can use them to organize themselves as well. I am working on production, but I would love your opinion! I have a survey below that I would greatly appreciate you taking a minute to fill out. It is short, I promise!
Thanks!
Jessica Bilski
