We ordered this on the recommendation of a speech therapist that was speaking on Executive Function of the brain. The idea is to help your child learn the feeling of how long it takes to complete things. It's also useful in limiting video game or computer time.
If you want to set it to the 30 minute timer, you simply turn the "30" to be at the top of the cube. What I really like is that it doesn't tick or have any other noise going on as the time goes by. When the time is up, it starts beeping until you turn it to the side with the zero on top.
My son, who has ADHD, has found it useful just to get started on homework which is a big plus. I say, "Just do 15 minutes of math now and then you can take a 45 minute break." He seems to get most of it done and then usually goes ahead and finishes before taking his break. Sometimes just getting started is the really hard part for him. He's a teen, so for younger children with the same problem, I might use the 5 min side.
We also use it for him to spend 5 minutes on picking up his room everyday. It keeps his room from becoming such a disaster area by the weekend when the heavy duty cleaning happens.
I really like to use this for myself when I want to take a break from work and relax, read, or surf the net. It keeps me from overdoing it.
Likewise, I can use this for a fast 5 minutes of cleaning on a certain room. The timer helps me focus in on what will make the biggest difference.
CONS: I, too, wish it had a 10 minute side, but a quick flip to zero and then back to 5 does work.
Since this timer does not easily allow you to see how many minutes are left, so it doesn't work for some things. I hardly ever use the 60 minutes and I haven't used it for cooking.
I am ordering two more for different parts of the house such as the office and the family/kitchen area. It's also nice that the price has decreased a couple of dollars.
