Last updated on 21 January 2025
Learning keyboarding can help students develop their computer skills, improve their typing speed and accuracy, and become familiar with technological tools.
There are many online tools to help children learn how to type on a keyboard. These tools are designed to be fun and interactive, making learning more enjoyable for children.
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Importance of typing for children
Typing is an important skill for children to acquire from an early age. Indeed, with the advent of technology, the ability to type quickly and accurately on a keyboard has become an essential skill for many everyday jobs and activities.
In addition, typing improves hand-eye coordination and concentration of children, which can be beneficial for their learning in other areas.
What are the best tools to teach children how to type well on the keyboard?
Learning typing is essential for children who use computers for their studies or daily lives. Here are six online apps or tools to learn how to type well on the keyboard other than with two fingers.
Typing Club. Free typing exercises
Typing Club is one of the most popular tools for learning to type on the keyboard. A colorful interface and an immediate control in autonomy are part of the strengths of this free solution. The app offers games, videos and interactive activities to improve the speed and accuracy of keyboard input and thus improve the typing technique. I highly recommend trying Typing Club to learn how to type quickly and efficiently with its 10 fingers.
Levels, badges and other stars are on the programme to motivate the student. You do not need to register to do the first exercises, but you will have to do it to save progress. Some advertisements are present in the free version. The site announces a version for schools, but it is currently only in English.
Ratatype. Work the positioning of hands on the keyboard
Ratatype offers a good twenty lessons for Learn how to properly position your hands on a keyboard and then type fast and well. The graphic atmosphere in a superhero way should appeal to the youngest. The tool invites you to start with a free typing test to measure your speed and accuracy on the keyboard.
In addition to lessons that offer progression in difficulty, the site also offers games to motivate the most recalcitrant. Ratatype also allows you to create groups to challenge and play with others. The free version is funded by advertising a little too present. To get rid of it, you will have to switch to a paid subscription.
Agile Fingers. Tap on the keyboard quickly and accurately
Agile Fingers keeps its promises if it is persevered in its efforts to follow the exercises proposed by the application. Agile fingers through exercises, games and challenges to inspire you to improve. The online application, AgileFingers, is a course that allows you to set speed and accuracy goals by teaching yourself the typing technique every day through exercises, lessons and games.
The site also offers a space for teachers to create a class where they can follow the progress of their students. They will register using a code given by the teacher
Orthoclavier. Improve keyboard input and spelling by playing
Orthoclavier is in the form ofa nice little game to write quickly on the keyboard which I found on the website of my friends of the educational software .fr. The game mixes speed with keyboard and spelling. Words appear at the top of the screen and begin to descend downwards. The player must have written the word on the keyboard without spelling errors before the word touches the ground. Simple but effective.
The small plus of this free application, the possibility to define a level of difficulty from CP to College. Orthoclavier, like all the small games on this site, is free of charge.
Tap’Touche. A complete method to develop a solid typing technique
The Tap’Touche solution is an effective online method proposed by the same publisher who developed the Antidote Correction Software. It is intended for anyone who wants to learn how to type on the keyboard with all fingers. Its comprehensive training programme includes nearly 100 progressive exercises for structured learning and tests to assess its progress on a regular basis.
Tap’Touche’s smart algorithm analyses the user’s performance and offers them targeted improvement activities on their weak points.
Tap’Touche is available on Windows, Chromebook, Mac and iPad. A school edition with account management features is also offered to teachers.
Tap’Touche is offered for around 30 students per year and offers school-specific subscriptions with dedicated student monitoring functions.
Easy typist. One of the best applications for learning to write on the keyboard
Last application of this list to learn typing: Easy typist. It is arguably one of the most serious and comprehensive resources on this list.. Easy typing - Learn the keyboard! is a software from the Generation 5 publisher that offers lessons and training activities for improve its striking speed Azerty keyboard and be more efficient on his computer.
A comprehensive methodology built around some 30 very comprehensive lessons. Several levels of difficulty are proposed to adapt to learners of all ages. Another strong point of this method is that the screen displays either the keyboard and hands (colour markers) or the keyboard alone.
With Dactylo Facile, one of the best applications for learning to write on the keyboard, you can improve speed and accuracy in just a few hours of training.
The software Easy Dactylo - Learn the keyboard is cross-platform Mac or PC. Count around 30 Euros to be able to buy it.
In the digital age, mastering keyboarding is no longer just an asset, but an essential skill. For today’s students, learning to type effectively and quickly on the keyboard is as crucial as knowing how to write by hand.
With these six tools and applications, learners of all ages and levels can learn typing, perfect it or combine it with other skills, such as:spelling. If you know others or use them personally or in the classroom, do not hesitate to tell me in a comment.
A quick comparison of these solutions to type quickly and well on the keyboard
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Languages | Monitoring progress | Keyboard AZERTY/QWERTY | Other characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typing Club | Free with advertisements. Paid institutions version | web | French, English | Yes | AZERTY, QWERTY | Games, videos, interactive activities, version for schools |
| Ratatype | Free with advertisements. Paid subscription | web | French, English, German, Spanish | Yes | AZERTY, QWERTY | Lessons, games, challenges, groups |
| Agile Fingers | Free | web | French, English, German, Spanish | Yes | AZERTY, QWERTY | Classes, lessons, games, teacher area |
| Orthoclavier | Free | web | French | Not specified | AZERTY | Game combining speed and spelling, CP to College levels |
| Dactylo Easy | Paying (approximately 30€) | Windows, Mac | French | Yes | AZERTY | Complete method, 30 lessons, several levels |
| Tap’Touche | Paid subscription, box with keyboard in store | Web, Windows, Chromebook, Mac, iPad | French, English | Yes | AZERTY, QWERTY | Complete curriculum, progressive exercises, texts, games, badges, age-appropriate environments, school edition |
English
A little more than 20 years ago I used a Tap’Touche CD-ROM, I see that there is an online version that is not tested but that seems nice to me.
https://www.taptouche.com/fr/
Tape key offers the Qwerty keyboard. It would have been interesting to clarify whether the software offered both types of keyboard: azerty and qwerty.
Dactylorun is nice too. Application developed by young parents during confinement.
The Metalo keyboard is a free assistant that helps children learn spelling in the classroom and at home. Thanks to a visual phonetic keyboard, the keyboard guides the user to the correct spelling of the word, to write it correctly from the first time! https://www.metalo.fr/appli-orthographe-enseignants/
Taptouche, metalo, dactylorun are paid. I specify, it saves time for teachers who want free solutions.
Taptouche is used by many occupational therapists. It pays off but for students who have to switch to the keyboard because of a disability (dys, … neurovisual disorders) it is really good. Important to remember that for these students an ergo accompaniment is essential for a global handling adapted to their troubles (knowing how to organize the files, find them, layout your course, get it reread ….)