Dance Mat Typing

I bookmarked this site some time ago and finally got the chance to check it out in a bit more detail. I have been using Keyboard Climber with my 1st graders to help them learn where the letters are on the keyboard. They love it and it's been a great starter site. Click here to see a previous post.

Dance Mat Typing from BBC School is listed as being an introduction to touch typing for children aged 7 - 11.  I really like it as the next step as it takes keyboarding to the next step.

Kiddos work through 4 levels each of which is divided into 3 stages. Here is what Level 1 looks like:

Stage 1: f d s a j k l ; g h - home row

Stage 2: e i

Stage 3: r u

To see what each of the other levels entail click here.

  On the left you can see screen shots of several of the pages in level 1. As you can see in the last screenshot, kiddos are already practicing whole words not just isolated letters as they move through level 1.

I'm excited to have my kiddos try this site. I still plan to start with Monkey Climber but am thinking I will likely introduce this site around January.

Keyboarding

Here's a game, Keyboad Climber, 
that I have used with both 1st and 2nd graders to help them with letter location and hand placement on the keyboard. 

To play the game, students need to help the monkey jump from tree to tree by typing in the letter shown on each tree. If the tree is on the right, they should use their right hand and if the letter is on the left, the should use their left hand. If they press the wrong letter, the monkey drops back down to the bottom and you start again. The monkey also goes back to the beginning if you take too long to find the correct key.

There are several levels which keeps the kids interested as they go. My kids loved level 3 when the monkey is in space and is wearing a space helmet. 

The main site, http://www.tvokids.com/ has lots of other fun things to explore as well, including math and science games, arts and music, puzzles and games, and more.