How Do I Teach My Child To Type?

How Do I Begin to Teach My Child to Type

Around age 6-7, kids have the motor skills to begin learning typing skills. Beginning with basic finger placement and proper posture, kids learn what the home row is and how to navigate around the keyboard from this resting position.  Once they know the basic location of keys, the goal becomes typing fluency, which involves not only accuracy, but also speed.

Typing fluency is gained by practicing keystroking so that the fingers gain muscle memory.  The best way to accomplish this is by using online typing games for kids at least 15-20 minutes each day.  

Online Typing Games for Kids

There are a lot of online kids typing games out there, but quality programs will focus not only on the element of fun, but also on a progression of keystroking skills to gain muscle memory.  In the beginning, repetitive drills to train their fingers and brain will help them develop muscle memory.  Turtle Diary’s “Learn Keyboarding” that starts with letters, then numbers, and finally symbols.  Beginning with basic location and moving onto a fun speed drill, kids can practice by following the falling letters.

A variety of games are online that have themes that attract kids to the programs, like “Underwater Typing” and “Balloon Typing” focus on individual letters so that their little fingers learn basic keystrokes.

Once these skills are mastered, kids can move onto games that have basic words, like “Space Typing.”  This will give the kids confidence to put their typing skills to real use while continuing to develop their fluency.

After the basics, the best online typing games will use speed and accuracy drills so that kids will learn to focus on the content rather than the location of the letters.  

Best Online Typing Games for Kids

Turtle Diary offers many fun options in online typing games for kids that are not only fun, but build on their developing skills. Even more motivating to kids is a bit of competition!  Turtle Diary offers the chance to play against classmates, with friends, or even with other kids on the internet.  “Typing Warrior” and “Multiplayer Car Race” are multiplayer games that kids love to play again and again, improving their typing fluency without even realizing they are practicing!

“Typing Ninja” proves exciting for kids who love destroying monsters while practicing their typing skills.  Kids begin with single letters and gradually move up to multi-letter words until they are typing seven- and eight-letter words at the end of the game.  The music pounds and drives them forward, increasing the intensity and their concentration as they work to be the ultimate typing ninja.

Kids can begin to work on typing words and sentences with a more difficult game, like “Rapid Typing.”  It not only encourages larger words, but pushes students to increase speed and accuracy, trying to get their word completed before the cat catches the mouse!

The best online typing games will offer a variety of options for kids, from basic letter location to speed drills to larger words for more accuracy.  Practicing daily will help kids to achieve typing fluency while having fun in the process.