Child’s Play: How to Encourage Your Kid to Start Touch Typing

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Your Child and Touch Typing

Touch Typing has increased in importance in this digital age. Many colleges and professions require a certain degree of typing expertise to accept young applicants. Because of this, modern parents and educators are motivated to have children start typing as early as kindergarten.

Early typing won’t be too much of a problem for your young children, provided, of course, that they can stay on the keyboard for more than a minute. Pressing on keys over and over might prove to be a bore for these youngsters. The challenge for teachers won’t be their students’ skills, but their attention spans.

Introducing Your Kids to Typing the Fun Way

The first goal in teaching kindergartners how to type is to get them familiar with the keyboard. These kids don’t have full command of their motor skills yet, so it’s best to introduce them to the keys first and ease them into typing. To keep them interested, you can incorporate colorful activities to catch their attention. You can even award outstanding learners with treats to acknowledge their achievements.

Children in the second or third grade should start with more focused and goal-oriented typing instruction. Older children should be informed of the benefits of touch typing as well as opportunities and careers in the field of I.T. The next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates might be learning to type in your home or school right now!

Typing Training Programs and Games

Typing training programs are great places for your child to learn typing. You can access hundreds of similar websites with a simple internet search and most of them are free. Online touch typing softwares like Typesy feature typing exercises that show beginners how to type gradually. You can adjust the settings to better cater to your child’s needs. Typesy and other programs also have a wide array of mini-games and challenges that will engage playful learners. Kids can learn how to type with cartoon friends like PacMan, Flappy Bird, and even Pikachu (hopefully soon).

Setting Expectations

While it is good to dream big for your little typist, you should try to root those goals in reasonable expectations. These are the general typing performance benchmarks that schools have for each grade level:

3rd grade: 85% – 100% accuracy, 15 WPM

4th grade: 90% – 100% accuracy, 20 WPM

5th grade: 90% – 100% accuracy, 25 WPM

6th grade: 90% – 100% accuracy, 30 WPM

These can serve as great guidelines and motivation for your child on their typing journey!

Touch typing doesn’t have to be a boring affair. Your child can have fun and explore the keyboard with these entertaining options. Starting them young will surely mold future typists with enough experience and skill to help create a new generation of digital leaders.

Let your kids enjoy proper touch typing with Typesy Now!