You're about to meet a little ghost named Spooky who lives in the attic of a seemingly normal suburban family home. Spooky tries with all his energetic might to scare the family, but they don't seem to notice.
Spooky is your personal typing coach. He'll show you where each letter is located on your keyboard and will tell you where to place your fingers. While you learn to type, you'll meet the family. You'll see Tammy on the phone most of the time and Timmy sitting on the dining room table. Dad is always
watching TV and Mom is in the kitchen arranging flowers. You'll also meet Woody, the cat, who usually stays in the closet and peers out at the world. While you get to know the family, you'll learn to improve your typing skills, and the faster you type the more haunted the house becomes.
You can go to the library from the attic at any time to practice your typing skills while reading classic
stories like "Cinderella" and "Rumplestiltskin." To type some one-of-a-kind stories, venture into the
encyclopedia set. Just click on the encyclopedia that has the letter you want to practice and a story
will appear for you to type. Be careful, because these stories are real finger-twisters!
No matter what game room you are in, Spooky will try hard to scare the family by turning on the
blender, lifting the TV into thin air, and doing other unnatural things. The faster you can type, the scarier it becomes.
Educational Benefits of Kid's Typing
Kid's Typing has been designed for children between the ages of seven and ten. Our goal is to teach children to type accurately and quickly with the guidance of an infinitely patient, always cheerful, animated on-screen teacher. Your child learns to type quickly and to correct mistakes with
the positive, immediate feedback that this tutor readily provides.
Your child's personal coach and teacher, Spooky, helps your child learn key location, basic typing and speed typing. Your child can practice typing in five different game rooms where the text is created specifically to improve weak areas. Also, your child has access to a large library of interesting texts, including classic tales by Hans Christian Andersen, the Grimm brothers, and other famous writers, plus an encyclopedia set to work on specific letters. The library provides a nearly
unlimited supply of texts so that your child can read new material each time he or she practices typing.
Sierra created a uniquely effective way of making the text scroll without jumping. Your child will see three lines of text at a time, and the text will smoothly roll up, revealing subsequent lines of text as your child types. This method makes it easy for your child to concentrate on typing, reduces eye strain, and increases accuracy.
A primary instructional benefit of Kid's Typing is the amazing capability to create lessons based on your child's educational needs. Each lesson is designed to strengthen your child's weakest keystrokes. No lesson or game will ever be the same.
Progression of Learning
Kid's Typing progresses logically and naturally as your child learns. Your child will learn and practice typing in three different environments: the attic, the game rooms, and the library.
Your child begins in the attic. Here Spooky teaches letter location on the keyboard through a series of lessons. Spooky introduces the keys in this order:
1) A, S, D, F, J, K, L, Semicolon (;), Space bar
2) H, E
3) I, R
4) O, T
5) N, G
6) Left shift, M
7) U, C
8) W, Right shift
9) B, Y
10) Apostrophe ('), X
11) P, V
12) Q, Comma (,)
13) Z, Period (.)
14) Question mark (?), Exclamation point (!)
15) Quotation mark ("), Colon (:)
In each of these fifteen lessons, Spooky first teaches finger placement on the keys. Then he asks your child to type the individual keys that have just been taught. Next, your child is given simple words as an exercise to practice individual keys. (Note that some of these are nonsense words,
created especially for practicing particular keys.) Accuracy is stressed in these attic practice exercises. As soon as your child has mastered typing words in each lesson, Spooky takes him or her into a game room.
The game rooms are designed to improve typing speed. When your child is first learning key location, the text for the game rooms consists of words using only the letters that have been taught.
After all fifteen lessons have been completed, your child will be treated to short, silly sentences for typing practice. These sentences are generated to insure variety and to help focus on the specific keystrokes being practiced.
As your child's typing skills advance, more complex text, including stories, will be presented in the game rooms. In this manner, your child is continually challenged by new and increasingly difficult material to type.
The library is designed for general typing practice and to encourage your child to type for extended periods of time. Thus there is a wide variety of stories available to hold your child's interest. Your child can enter the library from the attic at any time, but the text in the library is most appropriate for typists who have completed all fifteen lessons on key placement.
