Umm… did you say TYPE? As in what adults do on a computer??

Yes, I did! And YES, I talking about with children!

This has become a great thrill around our house, the older two children wanting to type on the computer. I’ve been very excited about them learning, though I do have to set time limits and referee who’s time it is.

Many months ago, DS1 began typing on Microsoft Word – well, actually, it’s probably been a year or so. But in recent months, he went from typing letters, to words, to sentences! He wrote out a question one day, to which I typed the answer, and this gave me the idea of typing out questions for him to read and type the answers to.

He’s loved doing this, and I’ve been so proud of his desire to learn. He’s not only practicing reading what I type, but he’s learning where the letters are on the keyboard.

Little sister has now caught the bug, and has loved typing all kinds of gibberish on the screen. Today, that changed! She asked me how to spell “rug”. It took a minute for her to find all the letters, but she did it – she typed the word and was so excited! I was also excited as this marks her first real “pre-reading/ spelling” attempt!

I showed her how to hit the “enter” key to leave space so she could clearly see the next word she was typing. We then named letters to spell other words she knew. Big brother jumped in later this evening and they worked on some more words together.

Though she doesn’t know how to sound out letters to all words yet, she’s learning! This is a great way to encourage pre-reading skills in preschoolers. Don’t avoid things simply because your child can’t read – let their daily activities provide ways to encourage them to read.

Read road signs, cereal boxes, books, mail, etc… Write down things with your child watching. They will not only learn the letters, but will see how to form them – and will also begin recognizing the words. Trust me – it worked for me and DS1! (Who, BTW, is going to be 5 years old tomorrow!! Where has the time gone!!)

For this activity, sit with your child at the computer and open a blank document screen. Ask them to say a word. Next explain that you are going to teach them how to spell and read that word.

For example – dog. You would say “dog“, then sound out each syllable. “Okay, dog starts with what letter?” (If your child knows the sounds already) D!!

“Okay, can you find the letter D on the keyboard?” (Give them time to find it, and maybe a clue – “it’s on the left side“.)

Repeat for each letter. Once you are done spelling/ typing the word – point to each letter and ask them to spell it with you. Now go back and sound out each letter as you point to it. Finally, spell and sound, then say the word together! Praise your child over and over because they just spelled, typed, and read the word “dog”!

(Then prepare to spend quite a while typing word after word, as they will probably be so… excited about this new skill!)

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Mrs. Candace