Show children the correct finger positions to use when they first begin using a keyboard. Encourage children to avoid using hunting and pecking to type. To help kids remember the correct finger positions, use the acronym "Amy Saw Ducks Flying" to remind them where to put their left-hand fingers and the acronym "Join Kate's Line" to remind them where to put their right-hand fingers. To personalize, make up your own acronym or ask children to make up their own acronyms.
Explain to the children which fingers reach for which keys. Allow the children to color blank typing layout worksheets, using a different color for each finger. Also, allow children to write the letters that correspond with each finger on their fingers with a marker as a reminder while they are learning to type.
Provide daily typing practice. Ask the children to complete short assignments, emphasizing that they use the correct typing technique rather than rushing to finish the assignment. To practice using all letters of the alphabet, children can type pangrams, which are sentences that contain all 26 letters of the alphabet. "See the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog" is an example of a pangram.
Use online typing games to improve the children's typing techniques. Games use drills and competition to encourage proper technique and accuracy. You can find games at FreeTypingGame.net, BBC's Dance Mat Typing and LearningGamesforKids.com.
Combine teaching typing techniques with the teaching of other skills, such as spelling practice, paragraph writing, letter formatting and book report writing, to accomplish more than one important learning task at the same time.