The design and tests of Timing Counter elements for the upgrade of the MEG experiment, MEG II,is presented. The detector is based on several small plates of scintillator with a Silicon PhotoMultipliers dual-side readout. The optimisation of the single counter elements (SiPMs, scintillators, geometry) is described. Moreover, the results obtained with a first prototype tested at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) of the INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) are presented.