Free Online Sensory Timer

How to use

1. 1

   Choose a length. Pick 1, 2, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or type any length from 1 to 120 minutes.

2. 2

   Pick a theme. Tap Ocean, Bubbles or Stars. The orb changes straight away, so a child can pick the one they like.

3. 3

   Set the numbers and sounds. Show or hide the numbers. Choose Chime, Bell, Singing bowl or None for the end, and Rain, Ocean or White noise underneath if you want it.

4. 4

   Press Begin. The orb starts to drain. Pause and +1 min are there while it runs; on a keyboard, Space pauses, + adds a minute and F switches to full screen.

5. 5

   Finish or go again. When the orb is empty, the screen reads All done and the end sound rings once, unless you chose None. Press Again for another turn with the same settings, or Done to go back to the start.

What a sensory timer is

A sensory timer is a countdown you watch rather than read. Something on the screen changes slowly and steadily, and how much of it is left tells you how much time is left. The idea is older than screens, since an hourglass works the same way. It is also meant to be calm to look at, with slow movement, soft light and no ticking, so it can stay in view through a quiet activity or a break without adding more stimulation to a busy room.

On this page the timer is a glass orb filled with liquid. It is full when you press Begin and drains steadily until it is empty at the end. The level follows the area of the orb rather than its height, so when a quarter of the time is left, a quarter of the orb is still full, and at the halfway point the surface sits exactly across the middle. A child who cannot tell time yet can see the difference between nearly full and nearly empty, and an adult across the room can judge what is left at a glance. The minutes and seconds sit in the middle of the orb if you want them, and can be hidden.

ADHD and time blindness

The psychologist Russell Barkley describes ADHD as creating time blindness, and he compares it to nearsightedness: what is happening now is sharp, while what is coming later is blurred. Deadlines, the end of a break and the time it takes to get out the door all sit in that blurred distance. Laboratory studies point the same way. A 2022 meta-analysis in the Journal of Attention Disorders pooled 27 studies covering 1,620 children and teenagers with ADHD and 1,249 without, and found that those with ADHD judged time less accurately and less precisely.

Barkley’s advice is to make time external: if it is hard to sense, put it where it can be seen, with timing devices placed where the work is done. A visual timer is about the plainest way to do that. The whole stretch of time is on screen from the start, and what is left is a shape to glance at rather than a number to work out. It is not a treatment and will not change how ADHD works, but it keeps the answer to how long is left in plain sight. For longer stretches of desk work, the focus timer on Stillsea has Pomodoro breaks and a stopwatch.

Kids, classrooms and calm-down corners

Teachers and parents often use a visual timer at the changes between activities: leaving the playground, putting a tablet away, tidying up before a story. The CDC’s guidance on ADHD in the classroom suggests extra warnings before transitions and changes in routine, and notes that a child deeply absorbed in something may need extra help shifting attention. A timer set at the start of an activity gives that warning without anyone repeating it, because the end is in view the whole time. Many autistic children use a picture schedule or a first-then board to see what comes next; a timer beside it shows when. When a child asks for one more minute and the answer is yes, +1 min adds it, and the orb rises to show the extra time.

For turn-taking, set the length once. When the orb is empty, Again refills it and starts the next turn with the same settings, so every child gets the same time and can watch it go. For a calm-down corner or a sensory break, try a few minutes with the numbers hidden and the end sound set to None, so the break has a clear length with no digits to watch and nothing ringing at the end. On a classroom projector or interactive board, press F for full screen.

Choosing a theme and a sound

The three themes change what happens inside the orb. In Ocean, slow waves drift across the surface over a few small bubbles. In Bubbles, bubbles of different sizes rise through the liquid and fade at the surface, a little like a lava lamp. In Stars, the surface is almost still and small stars twinkle in the liquid, a piece of night sky that empties as the time runs out. The page background changes with the theme as well. The orb switches as soon as you tap a theme, so a child can try all three and choose before you press Begin.

Numbers are optional. Hide them and the orb is the only clock on screen, and the tab title stops showing the time too. The end sound is a single chime, bell or singing bowl, and each one plays when you choose it, so you can hear it first. None ends the session in silence, with the empty orb, a soft glow around its rim and the words All done. Rain, ocean or white noise can play underneath to cover a noisy room; it stops when you pause and comes back when you resume. If your device is set to reduce motion, the waves, bubbles and stars stop moving, the background particles are left out, and the glow at the end becomes a steady, brighter rim instead of a pulse. The level still falls, because the level is the timer.

Link parameters

Every setting travels in the address bar, so a link can open the timer already set up.

Frequently Asked Questions