How does a sundial tell time without electricity?

A sundial tells time using sunlight and a shadow, just like how your shadow moves when you walk across the playground.

Imagine you have a big stick in the ground, that’s like the gnomon of a sundial. When the sun is up, it casts a shadow from the top of the stick down to the ground. The tip of this shadow points to different numbers on the sundial, just like the hands on a clock.

The sun moves across the sky, and as it does, your shadow moves too. In the morning, the sun is low in the sky, your shadow is long. As the day goes on, the sun gets higher, and your shadow gets shorter. When the sun is directly above you, your shadow is almost gone!

A sundial has numbers or marks around it, like a clock face. Each number means an hour of the day. As the shadow moves, it points to these numbers, and that tells you what time it is, just like how a clock shows time with its hands.

So a sundial doesn’t need electricity because it uses the sun’s position in the sky, just like your shadow on the playground!