Typing is an essential skill in our current world and one that is often taken for granted. Children are using computers as early as pre-school even though typing isn’t taught in most schools until much later. Typing as a curriculum is also commonly referred to as keyboarding. By using free online typing lessons and tutors, you can easily and economically teach your child to type from home – either as a supplement to their elementary school classes or as part of your home school curriculum.
Online Free Typing Lessons
One of the best typing programs for kids is the BBC Schools Dance Mat Typing. This program features four different levels of typing lessons for your child to work through. Within each level are three stages for a total of 12 stages. You start by rocking along your home row with a rock and roll billy goat and then move up and down the standard qwerty keyboard from there. The website also features printable worksheets that can be used offline for lessons or simply another form of review. Kids can get competitive by recording their scores and seeing how they measure up on the websites scoreboard. The program is designed for children ages 7-11 years old.
Typing Games for Kids
By interspersing lessons with typing games, you can still help your child build on his typing skills while keeping having a little more fun. Many sites offer free typing games for children, but most seem to be temporary trials or a more basic version of the actual product they are trying to sell. One of the best is Learning Games for Kids, which offers a variety of educational games in addition to keyboarding games. This website features 15 free typing, or keyboarding, games for children with fun themes such as Typing Tidepool, QWERTY Warriors and Numpad Kennys.
Typing Tests
It’s important to track your child’s progress as he learns to type. In the BBC Dance Mat Typing program you can monitor scores, but typing tests also help to track progress, accuracy and speed. In addition to games, the Learning Games for Kids website also offers one typing test for children. This test is based on typing of a short paragraph and gives a final score for speed and accuracy.
Additional, more detailed, typing tests can be found at Power Typing. Although this site is not as focused on children, it does offer simple-to-do typing tests that can isolate a section or group of letters or numbers on the keyboard. This allows you to isolate a certain section, such as the home row, to insure mastery of all areas of the keyboard. Interestingly, Power Typing also offers free typing tests and online typing lessons for a Dvorak keyboard.
So start your children now and give them an advantage by teaching them good keyboarding skills that will last a lifetime.
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