Keyboarding lesson
Ten lines from the home row to full sentences, with speed and the pressed key shown as they type.
When to use it
A keyboarding unit in the computer room, one short session a week. The first minutes of an ICT lesson while the machines start up. Younger pupils who type by hunting for letters and need to learn which finger goes where before speed means anything.
What makes it this
Built on the Typing practice generator with these changed. Everything else is the default.
- Type the spaces between words
Players press the space bar at the end of every word, so a sentence is typed exactly as it is written. Off, the line steps straight from the last letter of one word to the first of the next.
In the builder: How it plays › General
- Always show the keyboard
Phones and tablets get one either way; this puts it on desktop too, so a letter can be clicked instead of typed.
In the builder: Lines to type
- Lowercase letters
The letter tiles show capitals by default; on, every letter shows in lowercase — the form young readers learn first.
In the builder: Lines to type
Preview
View only — copy it to play.Touch typing in ten lines: home row to full sentences
Ten lines, easiest first: the letters under your fingers, then the row above, then real sentences. Press the space bar between words and the full stop at the end. Your speed shows under the line as you type.
10 lines to type
Why the example is built this way
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Home row, then the top row, then sentences.
The first three lines use only the keys under the resting fingers, and each step adds one reach. Keep the lines in order: shuffled, a beginner meets a full sentence before finding the home row.
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Only letters, spaces and full stops.
Every character is a key the player has to hit, so leave out apostrophes, curly quotes, dashes and accents. The on-screen keyboard has no punctuation, so turn on Special-character keys with just the full stop in it.
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A keyboard that shows which finger.
Always show the keyboard puts it on desktop screens too, with a coloured bar under each letter for the finger that types it. A keyboarding lesson without that is only a spelling test.
Build it yourself
- 1 Open the Typing practice builder and fill in the Lines to type tab.
- 2 Change the settings under What makes it this. Each one says where it is in the builder.
- 3 Share the link with your players, or embed the activity in your own site.
Or skip the building: copy this example and swap in your own content.