Learning to Type for Kids

My older two kids are 7 and 9.  They don’t yet know how to type, though hubby has been suggesting it for more than a year now. It was just one of those things that was hard to add into our day.  About two weeks ago, we finally took the plunge.  I started off introducing the keyboard to them in collection (our group time). I didn’t tell them what we were doing at first… had them outline their fingers and thumbs at the bottom of the page. Then had the draw squares and put in the letters of the keyboard (just the line where your fingers rest) making a simplified typing chart. At first they were mystified, but pretty quickly figured out that they were drawing a typing keyboard.

typing activityOnce they had the basics of the typing chart down we practiced together pretending to type fffff jjjjj fjfjfjfj ffffffggggg jjjjjjhhhh and things like that. First on paper and then on a word document.

Click here to print this Typing Mat out:  Typing Mat – Free Printable

Free Printable Typing Mat

On the recommendations of some other homeschoolers, we started using the free BBC typing program called Dance Mat Typing. So far that’s going well for the kids and is helping them learn to type.

Here are some screen shots I took the first day.  You can see it introduces things gradually. The kids loved the program and loved the accent!

Dance Mat Typing Program for Kids

You can visit Dance Mat Typing here. (It’s free.)

Typing Game for Kids

Another cute typing exercise is the Big Brown Bear. It’s not as fun looking or colorful looking, but it’s good practice for the kids. Again, this is a free typing program that the kids can do online.  (Remind them to use the SPACE bar when they first start off!!)

Typing Exercises for Kids Big Brown Bear Program

Have you used a typing program that worked well for your kids? I would love to hear what your recommendations are.  ~Liesl

A bit later I got this for the kids: Typing Instructor

LD (my oldest) used it and thought it was okay.  DD (my middle) didn’t like it much.  We didn’t use it for ED. So in all, I probably wouldn’t recommend it.

We wound up using some typing books that worked well for our family. One that I borrowed from the library was absolutely FABULOUS!!! It worked really well (and had short lessons that the kids could work through). Sorry, I can’t remember the name, but if you leave a comment it will remind me to look for it and add that in here! 🙂

Update: Someone else recommended “All the Right Type 4 Online” — we haven’t used it, though we might for ED.

Here are some of the other things we are doing in our homeschool: A Typical Homeschool Day – Kindergarten, 3rd Grade, 5th Grade (ages 9, 7 and 4 1/2)

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~Liesl

1 Response

  1. Loralee says:

    My 3rd grader has started using the computer at school, and she’s required to turn in typed assignments, but they don’t teach them to touch-type. She spends her computer time doing hunt-and-peck. We’ve got to add typing to our routine as well!

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