5 Simple Ways to Teach Kids to Type

I remember taking my first keyboarding class in Jr. High school.  I really loved it because because I realized it was something I was good at.  I had hardly touched a computer back then, but I did like typing.  I loved the challenge of getting faster.  I have had to use that skill countless times in my life as far a school goes, in college writing papers, and especially during my college job in the library.  After I got married I did some transcription work for a little while and got even better.  Now I am a blogger and I type every single day. I am grateful for the skill I learned back in Jr. High and realize how valuable it can be to teach our children.  

As much as I don’t love my kids being on the computer, I realize they need to be, and they especially need to learn to type.  It is a super important skill to learn today in today’s society.  For almost any job you go get, you need to learn to type, at least a little bit.  I know in public schools they have keyboarding classes, but here at home I haven’t really done a lot with my kids as far as an official keyboarding class, but by the time they are around 12I think it is important for them to have the basics of keyboarding down, and to improve on their speed and accuracy.  

Here are a few ideas to teach kids to type and to like it, and some fun games that we have played, or plan on playing to help improve their skills.

5 Simple Ways to Teach Kids to Type

Play Easy Educational Games – First let them learn the keyboard by learning to acutely play on it by playing basic educational games.  These basic educational games will help them use the mouse, arrow keys, and find letters on the keyboard.  Some of our favorits have been ABCYA.com, Starfall.com and ReadingEggs.com.  Set a timer for the amount of time you think your child needs to spend on the computer and then let them play until the clock goes off.

Play games that help them to learn the keyboard – You don’t have to go out and buy a keyboarding program.  There are a lot of simple free keyboarding games that will teach them the basics of typing.  My kids have loved Dance Mat Typing, but here are a few other’s they have enjoyed. 

• Dance Mat Typing
• FreeTypingGame.net
• Keyboard Climber
• Typing Games
• Nitro Type

Encourage them to increase their speed and accuracy – Once they get used to the keyboard and have learned where the letters are then it’s time to learn how to increase speed and accuracy.  Here are some great timed typing test from basic to a bit more challenging.  I even like to do these ones as an adult to help increase my sped and accuracy.  

• Big Brow Bear Keyboard & Learn To Type
• Keybr.com
• Timed Tests
• Typing Web
• TypingPal
• Ratatype Typing Test 

Have them type a paper they wrote by hand-  Once they get better at speed and accuracy, one great way to improve on typing skills is to have them start typing their hand written papers into a word document to get used to writing papers on the computer. This will be a very important skill to have when it come to writing papers as a high schooler or college student.  

Have them Type Emails to Family Members – My daughter loves to send her cousins and her grandma emails. A couple times a week she sits up to the computer and sends and email

So there are my 5 simple ideas to teach kids to type.  I hope these ideas help.  If you have any other suggestions I would love for you to share them!

Have a great day!