Try Englishtype - from the designer of Dance Mat Typing

BBC Dance Mat Typing is a fun starting point for children learning to type. However, if you’re serious about building real touch typing skills, it’s time to switch to Englishtype. Designed by the educational expert behind Dance Mat Typing, Englishtype offers everything Dance Mat lacks—and more.

More Levels & Activities: Over 200 activities including, games, and targeted challenges to improve speed and accuracy.
Supports Literacy: Includes spelling and literacy-focused activities, enhancing academic skills alongside typing.
Advanced Learning Tools: Features a unique 8-colour coding system for better engagement and learning.
Designed for Long-Term Use: Goes beyond Dance Mat’s fun introduction to deliver a full-scale typing program for serious skill building.

Available for Windows, Apple and Google Chrome

BBC Touch Typing - ready to step up your skills?

From BBC DanceMat’s Designer

Are you serious about teaching touch typing to kids? Then, it’s time to switch BBC Dance Mat Typing to Englishtype. Dance Mat is a fun introduction to typing, but if you understand the real benefits of unconscious touch typing, you’ll know that Dance Mat Typing can only take children so far. It’s simply too small to cover the full scope. Now try Englishtype, it’s 200 times the size and teaches touch typing with a big focus on literacy.

Why Englishtype Is the Best Next Step

Englishtype includes fun activities and typing challenges that build good habits. These improve speed and accuracy in both hands. It helps with practice in ways that Dance Mat or a traditional class cannot. Englishtype is also affordable, with simple online versions for children and adults, whatever your current typing level.

How Englishtype and Dance Mat Typing Are Connected

When the BBC planned an online typing program for kids, they reviewed many games and tools. Englishtype stood out as the best. That’s why they asked Englishtype’s Educational Psychologist, Jo, to be the designer and typing expert for the BBC Touch Typing project. The programmers made the graphics and voices. Jo designed the lessons, teaching method and colour coding.

The Unique Englishtype Advantage

Both Englishtype and BBC Dance Mat Typing use an 8-colour coding system to make learning easier. The colours help children remember which fingers to use. Making practice more engaging and improving typing skills. You can think of Englishtype as Dance Mat Typing’s big brother, taking the basics learned with Dance Mat to the next stage and beyond.

Celebrating & Continuing the Success

BBC Dance Mat Typing was a huge success, even winning a BAFTA in the Games category in 2004. Two decades later, it is still a popular free online tool in many schools. For children ready for more advanced challenges, Englishtype is the natural next step.

Englishtype offers a deeper, more literacy-focused typing program. It builds on the strong foundation of BBC Touch Typing and adds a wide range of activities and unique learning tools. This helps take your child’s typing skills to the next level.

BBC Typing vs Englishtype

A Comparison

Like many online programs, Mat Typing had to be small and simple so it could run on lots of types of devices.

BBC Mat Typing has ONLY 240 lines of typing in TOTAL: this gives a taste of touch typing. It’s not possible to build the unconscious automatic skill (or muscle memory) with only this much practice. On average, it takes 20-25 hours of practice to build both accuracy & speed to unconscious function. You would need to repeat it an awful lot of times to achieve this!

Comprehensive Typing Lessons

Englishtype has more typing in one LEVEL alone, with main lessons, 12 stages, games, speed booster & spelling lessons. Progress is saved and there are targeted activities to build & test the skill acquisition as you move through the program. Helping you to improve your typing, hand position and words per minute. See how Dance Mat and Englishtype compare…

BBC Mat Typing