After Dance Mat Typing: the next step for your child's typing
Once a child has finished Dance Mat Typing, the next step is not another set of letters but a change of focus: using the whole keyboard (capitals, punctuation and numbers), typing accurately without looking, moving from drills to real sentences, and building the stamina to keep going for a few minutes at a steady pace. Short, regular sessions of 10 to 15 minutes, three to five times a week, are enough. The six-week plan in this article works at home or in class, and it keeps the motivation going once the cartoon characters have finished singing.
What does Dance Mat Typing cover?
Dance Mat Typing is a free touch typing game from BBC Bitesize, aimed at 7 to 11-year-olds, that runs in a web browser. It is organised into four levels of three stages each, twelve stages in all, and animated animal teachers show children where to put their fingers and which finger presses which key. It starts on the home row and introduces new letters a few at a time, so each stage builds on the last, and each stage ends with a song to celebrate, which is a big part of its charm for younger children.
It is widely recommended in the UK. Local authority resource lists, including Hertfordshire's SEND Local Offer and Lancashire's primary computing pages, include it, and many primary schools use it as a first introduction to the keyboard. It does exactly what a first course should do: it teaches where the keys are and that each finger has its own job. Kluppy is not connected with the BBC; this article simply looks at what tends to come after a first course like this one.
What do children need after Dance Mat Typing?
Finishing a beginner course means a child knows the map of the keyboard. Turning that knowledge into a skill that helps with schoolwork takes a little more, and the first gap is usually the rest of the keyboard. Real writing needs capital letters, full stops, commas, question marks, apostrophes and numbers. The habit worth building here is using the opposite Shift key, with the little finger of one hand holding Shift while the other hand types the letter. Children who learn this early avoid the common shortcut of switching Caps Lock on and off, which slows them down and causes errors.
Accuracy comes next, because speed grows out of accuracy rather than the other way round. A simple rule helps: eyes on the screen, fingers back to the home row after every key. Feeling the small bumps on F and J lets children find their place without looking down, and our article on what the ridges on F and J are for explains why they are there. Aim for accuracy of around 95% before pushing for speed.
Then the practice material needs to change. Drills like "fff jjj" are useful, but children only become fluent when they type the kind of text they actually write: sentences with spelling patterns from class, a paragraph about a topic they like, a short story. Real text mixes letters in unpredictable ways, which is what builds automatic finger movements.
Finally, there is stamina. Typing one line well is different from typing for three minutes without tiring or slipping back into looking at the keys, so lengthen practice gradually, from one minute to three and then five. A short typing test every couple of weeks shows progress more clearly than a feeling that "it's getting better". Posture belongs alongside all of this: feet supported, screen roughly at eye level, wrists relaxed rather than resting on the edge of the laptop, something that is easy to forget on school Chromebooks.
What does a six-week "next step" plan look like?
This plan assumes three to five sessions a week of 10 to 15 minutes. It suits most children aged roughly 8 to 11, and older pupils can move through it faster. If a week feels too hard, repeat it; there is no prize for finishing early.
| Week | Focus | What to do | Check at the end of the week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Refresh and baseline | Revisit the home row and the letter keys with eyes on the screen. Take a 1-minute typing test to record a starting point. | Can type each letter without looking down. |
| 2 | Capitals | Practise the opposite-Shift rule with names, places and the start of sentences. | Uses Shift, not Caps Lock, for single capitals. |
| 3 | Punctuation | Full stops, commas, question marks and apostrophes in short sentences. | Types a three-sentence paragraph with correct punctuation. |
| 4 | Numbers and accuracy | Top-row numbers with the correct fingers; slow down to reach about 95% accuracy. | Accuracy at or above 95% on a 1-minute test. |
| 5 | Real text | Type something real: a book review, a diary entry, homework notes. Short daily warm-up on tricky keys first. | Types 100 words of their own writing without looking. |
| 6 | Stamina | Extend practice to 3-minute runs. Repeat the typing test from week 1 and compare. | Keeps accuracy steady over 3 minutes; speed higher than week 1. |
Our free typing test for kids lets you choose 1, 3 or 5 minutes with no sign-up, which fits weeks 1, 4 and 6, and the free typing exercises work without an account if your child needs extra drills on particular keys.
How do you keep a child motivated after Dance Mat Typing?
One reason Dance Mat Typing works so well is that it is fun, and once children move on, that energy can dip. Keeping sessions short is the simplest fix: ten focused minutes beat thirty distracted ones, and it is worth stopping while things are still going well. It also helps to track just one number, chosen by your child, whether that is words per minute, accuracy or "keys typed without looking", and to write it on a chart each week so progress is visible.
Praise the habit as much as the score. "You kept your eyes on the screen the whole time" matters more at this stage than a fast result. Children's own interests make good material, too: a list of football facts, a recipe or a message to a grandparent all count as practice, and typing games are a useful break from drills (our guide to online typing games for kids has ideas). Expect a plateau along the way. Most children have a week or two where nothing seems to improve, and going back to accuracy for a few days usually gets things moving again.
How can teachers carry on in class?
If your class has used Dance Mat Typing in computing lessons, the same plan works for a whole group. A five-minute warm-up at the start of any lesson that uses laptops or Chromebooks keeps skills fresh, and a short typing test once a half-term gives you a simple record of progress. For a fuller picture of where typing fits in the primary week, see our guide to touch typing in UK primary schools.
Where Kluppy can help
Kluppy is one option for the next step. It runs in the browser, including on Chromebooks, with nothing to install and no advertising. A free account, with no card needed, includes the finger-placement level and levels 1 to 7 of the free typing course, which cover much of the plan above. Paid plans start at level 8 and add AI-generated exercises built from each child's own mistakes. For schools, licences include a teacher panel with per-pupil reports on speed, accuracy and practice time, and classes can be imported from Google Classroom or Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Education. School prices in pounds are on our UK pricing page, and UK family plans are coming soon.
Frequently asked questions
My child has finished Dance Mat Typing. Can they touch type now?
They know where the keys are and which finger to use, which is the foundation. Touch typing becomes a usable skill once they can type real sentences, with capitals and punctuation, accurately and without looking. For most children that takes several more weeks of short, regular practice.
Should my child repeat Dance Mat Typing before moving on?
If they still look at the keyboard for most letters, repeating the later levels is a good idea. If they can find the letters without looking, it is usually better to move on to capitals, punctuation and real text, as in the plan above.
What typing speed should a primary-age child aim for?
There is no national target in England. Rather than chasing a number, compare your child with themselves: a test at the start and after six weeks shows real progress. Accuracy of around 95% matters more than speed at this age.
Is a tablet enough for practice?
Touch typing depends on feeling physical keys, so a laptop, Chromebook or a tablet with a physical keyboard is much better than an on-screen keyboard.