How does a sundial actually tell time?

A sundial tells time by using sunlight and a shadow to show what hour it is.

Imagine you have a really big clock outside, but instead of numbers and hands, there’s just one stick standing up in the middle. That stick is like the hour hand of a clock. When the sun shines on it, it casts a shadow, and that shadow moves around as the day goes on, just like the hands of a clock.

The sun is like your friend who’s walking across the sky from morning to night. In the morning, your friend is on one side, and by afternoon, they’re on the other side. As your friend (the sun) moves, the shadow from the stick gets longer or shorter, and it points to different marks around the sundial, just like numbers on a clock.

Around the stick, there are lines drawn on the ground, these are like the numbers on a clock. When the shadow lines up with one of those marks, you know what hour it is! It’s like when your mom says, “It’s time for lunch,” and you look at the clock to see if it’s 12 o’clock or not.

So a sundial uses sunlight, a stick, and shadows, just like how you use a real clock to tell time.