Readiness

At what age should keyboarding instruction begin?

The proper use of the keyboard should be introduced as soon as a child shows an interest in using the alphabet to create or communicate on a computer. Because computers are now available in elementary schools and some preschools, children should learn proper technique and posture at an early age. If children are left alone to find their way around a keyboard, they are at risk of developing bad habits. These bad habits can be difficult and frustrating to correct. Plus, they could set the stage for future repetitive stress injuries, or RSI’s.

Developing keyboarding readiness can and should begin before a child is asked to create text on a computer. Just like an athlete or a musician, students should stretch, exercise, and practice using correct techniques.

Already some of you have started preparing your younger students for keyboarding by reciting certain poems or singing songs. Eensy Weensy Spider and Where is Thumbkin are two excellent and fun activities that use finger action and provide exercise for early keyboarders.

Tiger Paws and Spider Crawl

To help prepare your young students to form the correct hand position for future keyboarding, ask them to dramatize and vocalize a fierce tiger showing its clenched paws. Then show them a more relaxed or contented tiger’s paws. This time you should demonstrate correct finger and hand formation for keyboarding. Repeat this exercise of "fierce tiger, nice tiger" with your students. This simple exercise will help tremendously when you eventually introduce them to keyboarding.

To prepare your young students to use the correct keystroke method, have them place "contented tiger paws" on a table. Ask them to keep their tiger paws still, but have the claws run in place. This exercise will let them feel the sensation of the ballistic motion of keyboarding.

Another similar exercise, is called the Spider Crawl. Have students lock their thumbs together and crawl the eight fingers forward and backward on a table while keeping wrists level.

Learning Finger Names

To prepare your students for keyboarding, they must learn their finger names. As you point your pointer or index fingers at your students, have them point at you. Next, have them exercise the pointers by bending them three to four times. Mention that the pointers happen to be their strongest fingers.

Ask your students to look at their hands, find their tallest fingers, then move, wiggle and bend them. You will most likely encounter a negative response from someone regarding the middle fingers…be prepared.

Next ask your students to find their ring fingers. Because most of them do not wear rings yet, have several large washers or some type of ring that you can place on one of their ring fingers. Then request a wiggle and a bend for the ring fingers. Do not be concerned if other fingers move a little while doing these exercises.

Introduce the baby finger next and go through the motions of wiggling and bending. You should mention that these little fingers are the weakest, but are asked to do a lot on a keyboard, so they need extra stretching. A beneficial exercise for the baby finger is to hold the pointer finger with the opposite hand while stretching the baby finger as far out as possible.

Okay, you have called out all the finger names and have had your students wiggle, bend and stretch them. Now what?

Have the class put their nice tiger paws on a table or desk. Ask them to look up, not down at their fingers, and tap the fingers you call out by name. This is also a good time to introduce the buddy system, one student observes the other. If a child does not know what finger to move, the buddy touches the finger with a pencil or their own finger to help their buddy. Soon your students will be able to accomplish this task easily.