Learn to Touchtype - educational touch typing programs
Typing for kids, teens & adults
- Developed by an Educational Psychologist
- Designed for the UK National Curriculum
- Extra Literacy benefits whilst teaching typing
- Targets muscle memory - type without looking down
- Engaging touch typing online activities
- Unique colour coding designed for rapid learning
- Multi-sensory design - see, hear, read, type
- Special Needs friendly
- Teacher Admin package for schools
- Teaching typing for 25+ years in schools and at home
- Built by award winning game designers making learning fun
Available for Windows, Apple and Google Chrome
Build your typing skills with our touchtype games
How To Learn To Touch Type
Learning to touch type is an essential life skill for everyone today. Computers are everywhere and using a keyboard without touchtyping is like using a feather and pot of ink to write – painfully slow! Lots of countries, like America, Canada & Australia, teach typing lessons (or ‘keyboarding’) as a basic skill, but in the UK very few schools are teaching typing. With touch typing online you can learn anywhere, anytime.
For Special Needs like Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Autism/ASD and VI, teaching keyboard typing can be life changing. Written work is often a difficult & disliked area, and learning to touch type can significantly improve both quantity & quality of written work.
Did you know being able to touchtype is really about using your muscle memory? Typing becomes an unconscious process leaving the brain free to focus on what is written, rather than eyes jumping between screen and keyboard. And it’s a different, powerful way to learn to spell.
Teach them to touch type. They'll bless you for it in later life.
Or they'll hunt and peck like electro-chickens
for the rest of their days."
Englishtype Junior is the educational and fun way to teach typing for kids. Developed by an experienced Educational Psychologist especially for the UK Curriculum and designed by award winning game designers. Teaching touch typing in schools and at home, Englishtype has taught thousands of kids to type without looking.
Unlike other touchtype software, Englishtype maximises literacy benefits at the same time as teaching typing. Unique colour coding of fingers & letters boosts skill learning. Carefully selected age relevant & useful vocabulary (choose from 4 levels) is great for any ability level – challenging the brightest and including support for Special Needs. To help read more or learn how to touch type click below.
Englishtype is a leading brand of touch typing tutor
At home and in school, Englishtype is a leading brand of touch typing tutor developed especially for the UK Curriculum by an Educational Psychologist (educational designer of BBC Schools Dance Mat Typing). Learning to type can take as little as one week and short lessons & arcade-style games make typing practice fun.
Teaching typing for over 25 years, Englishtype has taught thousands of children & adults to touch type. Focusing on muscle memory, Englishtype’s unique colour coding system and specially designed exercises teach how to touch type in the fastest & most effective way. Learning to touchtype can be done in as little as one week with very intensive practice. Speed and accuracy is increased.
Englishtype is the best in “edu-tainment” – educational entertainment – learn to touch type in a fun and engaging way with lots of different activities and touch typing games for painless practice.
Englishtype Senior is a version of the bestselling touch typing tutor for kids, designed for older students. Englishtype Senior was developed by an experienced Educational Psychologist and is designed to boost literacy at the same time as teaching typing. Improves reading, spelling, grammar & punctuation.
Englishtype’s unique colour coding builds typing skills & muscle memory quickly and efficiently. Carefully selected vocabulary means practice is using relevant & useful words not nonsense or random words. Great for any ability level with SEN friendly design. Suitable for aged 12+, teens & adults.
Did you know?
When you type by touch, a different part of your brain is in control
When you can type without looking down at the keyboard, your unconscious is in control of what’s happening (it’s like changing gear in a car – you think it and your body does the rest).
What’s in control is the “muscle memory”; also known as your physical skill centre – it really does “let your fingers do the talking”.
This part of the brain automates operations and skills, so that once learned, the process part is unconscious. There are so many advantages to this part of the brain being in control, for example…
- Type more accurately
- Type faster
- Keep your eyes on the screen, no dividing of the
attention between the screen and the keyboard - Your mind is free to concentrate on content & quality of writing
- It’s a different, effective way to spell; words are finger movements and patterns on the keyboard not strings of letters
Learning to Type
With the omni-presence of computers, typing is a life skill in this day & age. In many other countries, touch typing is taught at primary school age. At Englishtype, we are passionate about teaching typing and believe all children should learn to type before they leave school.
Most kids are familiar with computers almost as soon as they start school, so it’s assumed they know how to use the keyboard by “hunting & pecking” at the keys. This means the slowest part of the computer is the human using the keyboard – touch typing increases efficiency by 200-800% or more. That’s why we are dedicated to making typing for kids easier. Explore for more information on how touch typing helps children and tips to improve learning.
Englishtype has many unique features that maximise its educational benefits:
Way to Learn to Type
- Builds the powerful muscle memory using unique colour coding
- Short lessons and fun games for painless practice
- Collect gems, trophies and outfits for your character
- No nonsense words and no mix of real words & non-words
- Speed Booster increases results by 25%
Friendly Features
- Boosts literacy at the same time as teaching typing
- Used across a variety of Special Needs very successfully: Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Autism, VI
- Strong multi-sensory design
- Both written & spoken instructions
- Visually simple & uncluttered presentation
- Extra lessons to help spelling – see, hear, read, type
- Choice of screen colours
- Large font option
Features
- Uses a carefully structured vocabulary with high frequency words and National Curriculum Spelling Appendix lists
- Ideal for mixed ability groups
- Suitable for SEND pupils
- 3 vocabulary levels to choose
- Detailed Teacher Admin package for monitoring progress
- Designed to achieve automaticity
- Lower case keyboard option for young children
Special Needs
Englishtype was designed originally with the special needs of Dyslexic individuals in mind. The careful design and structure of the program have also made it popular with teachers working with other types of Special Needs, including Dyspraxia / Development Co-ordination Disorder (DCD), Austistic Spectrum Disorder, Aspergers, Semantic Pragmatic & other language disorders and Visual Impairment.
For Special Needs or Neuro-divergent children, touch typing provides a very different option for writing and usually has a very significant effect, completely changing how they feel about written work. Written work is usually a disliked and/or upsettingly difficult process. The quality of work is not comparable with cognitive ability, and self esteem is often also damaged.
Try our FREE Typing Speed Test
Our keyboard typing speed test is designed to be as realistic as possible; it allows you to make mistakes, but you must correct them before the timer stops. Choose the appropriate age to get vocabulary to test typing for kids or touch typing for adults. The test gives you a true measure of your speed to produce something properly. It uses high frequency common words for children and adults. Although there are a few less common words to give you some work with less common letters like Q and Z! This is a free typing speed test to show you how fast you can type and how long mistakes take to correct.
Schools & Teachers
Englishtype was designed by an Educational Psychologist especially for use in UK schools. Unlike other typing tutors, it is designed to maximise additional educational benefits at the same time as teaching typing. The multi-sensory design & strong structure plus carefully selected vocabulary content (sources include Alpha to Omega & National Curriculum Spelling Appendix) make Englishtype ideal for mixed ability groups in the classroom, challenging the brightest whilst providing extra help for Special Needs children.
Latest News
Touch typing will help your Dyslexic child – freedom from the pen!
Just watch 9yr old Theo, he’s Dyslexic and now typing at 30wpm! Theo learned to touch type using Englishtype at the Yorkshire Rose Dyslexia Typing Club on a Saturday morning
Don’t be fooled by ‘fake’ Dance Mat Typing – make sure it’s the BBC Bitesize original!
If you teach touch typing for kids, you’ve probably seen or used Dance Mat Typing from the BBC – it’s been around for 20 years and is one of the
The Importance of Touch Typing
Using a computer keyboard is a regular thing for almost everyone these days – school, homework, professional or personal use. Pressing keys on a keyboard while looking down to find
Need more practice for your child after BBC Typing?
The typing course for children from the BBC is 20 years old this year! And it’s still one of the most popular free touch typing programs for children in the
Choosing touch typing software for kids – why choose Englishtype?
There are a lot of touch typing programs out there – some for free, some cost a lot. If you’re serious about touch typing for kids, have a look at
Teach touch typing for kids – say no to being a digital caveman (cavewoman!)
“I wasn’t allowed to learn to type when I was at school, because I was told that as I was bright and heading to university I didn’t need to learn.