We recently were given the opportunity to review an online typing program called Keyboard Town Pals.
Keyboard Town Pals claims to be a better, less stressful method of typing instruction. It also claims to be able to teach your child to type in under an hour.
From the creators:
Do you remember the stress of typing class?
Keyboard Town PALS is different!
- Children proceed at their own pace
- The puppets, humor and music are very entertaining
- The children easily recall the storyline
- Children will want to view it again and again
- No fear of making mistakes
- No racing against the clock
- No testing
- No scoring
- No anxiety
Our Experience
Basically it teaches your child to type using eight video lessons. The child types along with the lesson on a little screen underneath the video. The lessons "take place" in Keyboard Town, which consists of three "streets": Home Key St., Uptown, and Downtown. Each letter was represented by a puppet. For example, A was Amy Home Key St. They repeated the phrase repeatedly to ensure quick memorization. Then taught Z and Q using additional puppet characters and phrases, Amy downtown Zebra or Amy Uptown Quiet.
I will say the character phrases and the storyline stuck with my daughter. However, she did not care for the puppets or the videoes at all. At ten, she found them silly and I think she was a little embarrassed. They are definitely geared more towards much younger children. My youngest daughter LOVED the video shows however, at three, she is not ready to learn to type.
In the end, I will say it did teach her where the letters were on the keyboard and which fingers she is to use for each one. And it taught her quickly. I'm not sure that I'd say that she learned to type in an hour though. While she does now know the keys and finger placement, she needs drill to execute. Because there is no drill or correction, her fingers still hit the wrong keys. When she took the typing test at the end, she still made quite a few errors and she was taking her time.
Final Thoughts
While I don't feel that my daughter learned to type in an hour, I was very pleased with how quickly she learned the keyboard and correct finger placement. Whether or not she liked the puppet shows, she did learn those skills and she learned them quickly.
Pros:
*It teaches keyboard and finger placement quickly.
*It is web-based so you can get on any computer with an internet connection and
complete the lessons.
*You can customize the font color.
*Available in English, French, and Spanish.
Cons:
*It is a little pricey for a program designed to be completed in one hour.
*The puppet shows are definitely geared toward very young children.
The Details
Website: http://www.keyboardtownpals.com/
Ages Range: 7 & up
Cost: $39.95 and up
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Disclaimer: I was given a free trial of this product for review purposes in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
2 comments:
My 10 year old son also felt he was too old for the puppets, but he definitely picked up some typing skills. I agree, though, that drill and practice will be necessary for him to keep them up!
I have my 10 year old doing his creative writing on the computer now. And yesterday when he started to peck n' type I told him to use correct finger positioning...and he immediately knew where to place his fingers. Sooooo... Still, not my first choice of typing program. Maybe for my littlest when he's ready to type?
...danielle
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