Improving typing skills on the iPad

One of the hardest tasks I have found for the children when using the iPad, is getting used to typing on the iPad keyboard. From working with KS1, I wanted to really encourage the children to improve their typing skills in a fun and engaging way. In KS1, the children put their typing and spelling skills to the test by using two different apps to help them improve their use of a keyboard on the iPad. The children loved the challenge and the game aspect to these apps. We started with the Typing Bee app which is great with younger children as it has different levels of difficulty. You can go against a timer, play with a full keyboard or only highlight the letters that are in the word and focus on where they are on the keyboard. You can also vary the difficulty of the word. We started without a timer for children to get used to the app and then introduced the timer, the children relished the challenge and were completely focused on beating the clock before the timer ran out.

   

  1Y2 using Typing Bee app from Davyhulme Primary School on Vimeo.   

  The next app we used was "Typing Class for iPad," which again varies in difficulty but completely focuses more on improving your typing skills. It engages the children through games and challenges that range from letters, to capitals and then words. The only downside is that the 'z' key moves to a different place when playing the game. This didn't stop our class challenging themselves and learning where letters are on the iPad keyboard. By the end of the lesson we could clearly see that the children had built up their confidence and started to remember where certain letters were.

 

 Thanks to Mr Simon Haughton (@simonhaughton) and his school Parkfield Primary for the suggested activity.

For KS2, once the children are more confident using the keyboard they can then test their typing skills using the Ghost Typing app.

The app asks the children to type a given text against a clock and counts the letters typed correctly and also any mistakes made. Providing a target/score for the children to improve on each time. The app also allows you to create your own lessons, meaning it can be used as a more cross curricular tool. Information about any topic can be used while the children develop and perfect their typing skills.