A Fun Alternate Way to Teach Children Keyboarding2

This lesson plan floor game teaches young children the keyboard using mnemonics, rather than mindless repetition, to help them remember key locations

In this lesson, students learn the LEFT side TOP and BOTTOM rows

LEFT shower curtain keyboard, colored paper (4 red, 4 green, 4 blue and 8 orange), white pencil or marker pen, flower pot and small spade, small Easter eggs, 1 raw carrot and 1 piece of celery cut into small pieces, teddy biscuits

Preparation:

On the colored paper, write Q Z Quick Zoo (red), W X White X (green), E C Easter Chocolate (blue) and R V T B Raw Vegetables Teddy Biscuits (orange). Replace the existing white letter keys with their colored keys and keep the word keys handy

Seat the students in a semi-circle around the keyboard on the floor

Choose four students to be the four "fingers" and have them stand on the home keys. Then, have them say aloud their letter (ASDF) and the word we are using to remember each letter (Animals, Snow, Dig, Food)

Ask the class what "finger" moves UP to Q and DOWN to Z (the Animals, Q and Z keys are red). Have the Animals finger move UP to Q, DOWN to Z and back to Animals. Then, ask the class did the Animals finger move UP and DOWN in a straight line. No, UP LEFT and DOWN RIGHT

Replace existing letter keys with word keys: Quick, Zoo, White, X, Easter, Chocolate, Raw and Vegetables (keep Teddy and Biscuits handy)

Have the Animals finger run around the classroom. Tell the class "The Animals finger has escaped. Quick, get him/her back to the Zoo" as they shepherd the Animals finger back to the Animals key. The more dramatic you can make Animals, Quick and Zoo sound the better. Then, have the class say aloud "Animals Quick Zoo" as the Animals finger moves UP to Quick, DOWN to Zoo and back to Animals again. Do this 10 times

Draw a large white X on a whiteboard or white paper and ask the class why they can't see it. Tell them it would be the same if they drew a white X in the snow. Have the class say aloud "Snow White X" as the Snow finger moves UP to White, DOWN to X and back to Snow again. Do this 10 times

Ask the class if they dig in the garden for chocolate at Easter time. Then, give the Dig finger the small spade to dig in the flower pot for an Easter egg. Have the class say aloud "Dig Easter Chocolate" as the Dig finger moves UP to Easter, DOWN to Chocolate and back to Dig again. Do this 10 times

Give each student a small piece of raw carrot and celery and ask if they like eating Food like Raw Vegetables. Then, have them say aloud "Food Raw Vegetables" as the Food finger moves UP to Raw, DOWN to Vegetables and back to Food again. Do this 10 times

Now, the students start typing. The first word is "dear". D should be easy, but what about E. What finger types E and does he/she move UP or DOWN?

If we don't remember what finger types E, we first say aloud our Home row sentence, "Animals in the Snow Dig for Food" and, then, we say "Animals Quick Zoo", "Snow White X", "Dig Easter Chocolate". Ah ha, the Dig finger types E, but does it move UP or DOWN? It moves UP because Easter is the first word

When you call out D, the D finger jumps and you write D on the blackboard. Then, call out E, A and R

If a "finger" makes a mistake, call on the Backspace finger to jump on the Backspace key and, then, sit down. At the end of each word, have the Space Bar finger jump on the Space Bar and, then, sit down

In turn, choose more sets of four fingers to type the words: ear face grass race safe

But, wait, there are two more letters, one on the top row and one on the bottom row and you don't have any more fingers. So, how do you type T and B? The Food finger again does double the work (groan) and it's hard because, this time, he/she doesn't move UP LEFT and DOWN RIGHT he/she has to move UP RIGHT to T and DOWN BIG RIGHT to B

Replace T and B on the keyboard with Teddy and Biscuit. Tell the class, because the Food finger has to work so much harder, he/she is rewarded with "Food like Teddy Biscuits". Then, have them say aloud "Food Teddy Biscuits" as the Food finger moves UP RIGHT to Teddy, DOWN BIG RIGHT to Biscuits and back to Food again. Do this 10 times

In turn, choose more sets of four fingers to type the words: bad bag cab tea vet wet zebra

Feedback would be very much appreciated. In Lesson Plans 3 and 4, students learn the RIGHT side of the keyboard

You can grade the students on their ability to remember which finger hits which key