9 Tips to Help Children to Learn to Type
It’s important that children learn to type early on. From the age of 9 or 10, children have to do a lot of homework at school. They’ll save time and go faster if they know how to type, in this case, on a computer keyboard.
In addition to simplifying classroom tasks, typing is an excellent fine motor exercise that will allow children to have very nimble fingers. It also involves an exercise of automation and complementation of the hand with the brain. Therefore, learning to type is a constant benefit that will follow our little ones throughout their lives.
How to get your child to learn to type
Actually, it’s very simple to get children to learn to type. With a little daily practice, in three or four months, they can reach an acceptable level to handle any keyboard.
Use online programs for exercises
The first thing to do is to practice. That’s why, in order for children to learn to type, they’ll need lessons. Online, we can find many lessons to learn how to place their fingers on the keyboard. They’ll be able to do exercises that are repetitive, requiring them to constantly mark a key with the corresponding finger.
Saying the letter out loud
When the child does the exercises, it may be helpful to say the same key they have to press out loud. This way, the brain makes a connection between the letter and the movement they’re making.
At the same time as typing, when pronouncing, learning is accelerated thanks to the visual feedback that’s also produced when the letter appears on the screen. In other words, the sense of hearing is complemented with the sense of sight to achieve greater growth and an optimal internalization of the process until it becomes natural.
Constant practice is essential to learn to type
There’s no secret when it comes to learning to type, nor are there any magical solutions. It’s a matter of practicing a lot in order to memorize and automate the movements. Therefore, it’s very important that the child repeat the lessons regularly. If possible, three times a week is the ideal amount of time, with each session lasting one hour. That way, in three or four months, they’ll be able to handle the keyboard well.
Keeping up the pace
For your child to learn to type properly, when practicing, they must keep up the pace. In the beginning, they’ll make many mistakes. But it’s better to let them pass and focus on their rhythm. This way, they’ll be much faster than if they have to constantly stop every time they make a mistake.
Proper body posture
This is another important point that many tend to overlook. With the right body posture, with the spine straight at an angle of about 90 degrees to the legs, you’ll find a way to type at the right speed. In addition, this prevents the appearance of physical problems that sometimes occur due to poor postural hygiene when your child’s in front of a computer screen, for example.
It’s better to be precise than fast for children to learn to type
When learning to type, it’s normal for your child to want to test their skills and type as fast as they can. However, to get the right skill, it’s better to be accurate. As they practice, their speed will increase.
Fun guaranteed
Typing has a lot of automation of movements, making it very repetitive. Therefore, when practicing, children need to enjoy some sort of incentive. For example, jokes and riddles, writing silly words that make them laugh, creating images with letters, etc.
Writing with two fingers as a means to learn to type
The first exercises your child does to learn to type should be based on the use of two fingers. If they try to begin using all 10 fingers, they’ll get confused and everything will be more complex. For this reason, they must start out by constantly using just two. For example, their two index fingers, their two middle fingers, and so on, until they automate the whole process.
Frequency over quantity
It’s more important for the child to practice regularly for short periods of time rather than practicing for long periods of time every once in a while. It’ll be much more positive for their learning than spending many days doing nothing and then preparing a long typing session, allowing a long time to pass again until the next lesson.
Frequency is important. Once it’s internalized, they won’t forget it. Therefore, practicing every day for half an hour, for example, or three times a week, is better than one three-hour session per month.
Learning to type is easy
Little ones are real sponges when it comes to internalizing knowledge and automating practices. So, with these tips for children to learn typing, they’ll discover the wonderful world of keyboards in a few weeks.