Clock faces divide into 5-minute intervals. From 12 to 1 is 5 minutes, 1 to 2 is 5 minutes, etc. Skip counting by 5s helps determine minutes: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60. The minute hand moves to each number for every 5 minutes.
You already know how to tell time to the hour and half hour, and you know how to skip count by 5s. This topic connects those two skills: the minute hand on a clock is literally a skip-counter by fives. Every time the minute hand moves from one number to the next, exactly 5 minutes pass. Twelve numbers on the clock face × 5 minutes each = 60 minutes in one full hour.
The key is reading the minute hand using skip counting. When the minute hand points to the 3, you don't say "3 minutes" — you count by fives: 5 (at 1), 10 (at 2), 15 (at 3). So the minute hand at 3 means 15 minutes. When the minute hand points to 7, count: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 — that's 35 minutes. The hour hand tells you which hour you're in; the minute hand (read by skip counting) tells you how many minutes past that hour.
A useful anchor is the half hour: when the minute hand points straight down at 6, you've counted 30 minutes (5×6 = 30). You already knew that 6:30 means "half past six." Now you know why — the minute hand has traveled exactly half of its journey around the clock. Similarly, when the minute hand is at 3, it's "quarter past" the hour (15 minutes = one quarter of 60). When it's at 9, it's "quarter to" the next hour (45 minutes gone, 15 to go).
To read any time: first look at the hour hand and identify which hour it just passed. Then skip count by 5s from 12 to wherever the minute hand points. For example, if the hour hand is just past 4 and the minute hand points to 8, count 5–10–15–20–25–30–35–40: the time is 4:40. With practice, reading the minute hand becomes automatic, and you'll stop needing to count every step — you'll just see "at the 7" and instantly know "35 minutes."