Touch typing: How to help your child learn good typing habits

Getting children started with touch typing

In many jobs, digital skills such as touch typing can be really useful. However, teaching your child to type in this way can be a challenging process.

As a parent, it can be hard knowing how to start your child touch typing, especially if nobody taught you - but it's a skill that will set them up well for the future. Not only can it make them more comfortable when they use computers and the internet, but improve their speed and accuracy when typing. It can also help them to form good typing habits early on.

Learning to touch type can be useful for children with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and dyspraxia - as typing written work can help them to produce clear and legible text whilst boosting their self-esteem.

So, how can parents help their child to touch type in order to enjoy these benefits?

Top tips to help your child with touch typing

Are you thinking about how you can help your child build good typing habits? There are many tools and tips to help build skills and confidence.

• Start with the home row: The home row is the centre row of keys on a keyboard. These include the keys ASDFG and HJKL; and is the row which fingers rest on. Ask your child to practise typing the letters on the home row and as they progress, you can introduce other keys on the keyboard.

• Posture and positioning: A strong posture and hand position is key to touch typing. For a good typing habit, ask your child to sit comfortably with their back up straight, feet on the ground and hands over the home row.

• Celebrate the successes: Learning how to touch type can be challenging for children. By offering encouragement and praise, this can act as a motivator for your child to keep trying and boost their confidence.

• Practice makes perfect: The more you can encourage your child to practise their typing, this can help them improve in confidence and accuracy. To help you get started with typing practice, why not have a go at playing Dance Mat Typing below?

Touch typing practice: Dance Mat Typing

This interactive typing game from BBC Bitesize centres on teaching children to touch type confidently and form good typing habits.

This game is split into four levels of play, each with three practise stages. This will allow your child to practise skills such as typing on the home row, typing punctuation and typing letters in rows. Each level builds on knowledge and skills learnt from the previous lesson. It also introduces new letters as your child progresses, giving your child plenty of help touch typing.

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