Kidz Type: Online Typing Lessons for Children

Have you heard of Kidz Type? It’s a website that provides free online typing lessons for children.

Back in my day, we were “taught” how to type in computer class on a program that we had to load with a floppy disk. I’m going to let that marinate for a minute. Kids the age of my children call floppy disks the “save” symbol, and my heart shatters into a million pieces. 

Once my children realized what blogging was, they showed a keen interest in typing. Often using the plastic laptops gathered from the toy aisles in big box stores, they would settle down beside me on the floor, and start click-clacking away at the keys with no rhyme or reason. It catapulted me back to when I would listen to my dad type on his word processor and be enthralled. It was my desire in life to be able to type as fast as he did – a whopping 100 words per minute, and I finally accomplished that after my freshman year of college. You bet your bottom dollar I called him and exclaimed in glee that I was able to type as fast as him. 

This is a compensated post but all opinions are my own. 

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Why an online typing class? 

Knowing how to type is no longer a luxury for anyone living on this Earth. There’s no arguing that. In order to complete anything these days, you have to know your way around a keyboard, and while the home row hasn’t changed since I’ve become familiar with it, the way that we use the keyboard has. My past keyboard weighed just as much as my entire laptop does now, and I’m fortunate to be able to carry it with me wherever I go. 

Many of you know that my children are 10, 8, and 8 – yes I have twins – and they are some pretty interesting people to observe when it comes to using technology. Frustration came to them when doing some of their lessons online in the form of not knowing where the letters were on the keyboard in order to complete a timed game. It was something that I had not thought about when choosing more online curriculum and that makes me sad. While we had almost hit our budget for curriculum, it was brought to my attention that Kidz Type was a FREE online forum that teaches children to type, and does so in the form of games and simple drills. 

You don’t have to worry about the drills being too difficult. The program starts out with proper finger placement for the kids and encourages them through repetition to learn how to type correctly. 

What are the Kidz Type lessons like?

We started with the lessons in order, and I can appreciate the way that they were presented. Of course, they may seem monotonous, but it’s to make sure that your children (and you if you need the practice as well – I won’t tell) form the muscle memory necessary to become successful. 

The lessons increase in difficulty gradually. Introducing one letter at a time, and not trying to jam the entire row of letters into their subconscious. With someone of a younger age learning how to type, this is a perfect way to show them how to properly type. 

You can see from early in the program that my oldest child wasn’t forming her hands properly on the computer. There was a ton of pecking going on, and to be honest, there still is a lot of pecking going on, but it’s faster, AND there is effort to place the fingers in the proper position. 

Using the Kidz Type program has given me a bit of hope in the future of the typing for my children. I know that I am not a typing teacher, and I won’t ever pretend to be. There was no way for me to teach them in a way that I felt was tangible. This isn’t a thought on me not being able to teach, but not knowing where to begin, and honestly, not wanting to do the research to become the proper teacher for them. 

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However, a typing program that will handle the lessons and units, and I can become a guide for them, absolutely. They are given lessons in an order that helps them master rows, and then they can play games to practice what they’ve learned and not feel so pressured by perfection. 

Kidz Type is FREE 

I’m just letting you know this again, just in case you missed it up top. The program is completely free, and you can practice and play to your hearts content. Don’t be surprised if you go to see how skilled you are, and end up practicing a bit more than you thought you needed. OR that’s what I’ve heard. 

Check out Kidz Type on their website at www.kidztype.com.