Practice Exercises for Typing on a Keyboard

Dexterity in typing is important for speed. Stretching your fingers will increase your dexterity. The exercise is done by placing your hands flat on your desk. Now lift your thumbs and leave the rest of your fingers and palms flat on the desk. Lower your thumbs and lift your middle fingers. Lower those and lift your pinkies. Lower your pinky fingers and raise the index fingers. Lower the index fingers and lift your ring fingers. Repeat this pattern as much as you can to increase dexterity. You can do this exercise just about anywhere you go. If you do not have a table or desk to place your palms on, just use your lap.

Assign certain letters to the right hand and some to the left hand. Place your thumbs above the space bar. Your right index finger goes on the letter “J” and your left index on the letter “F”. Lay the remaining three fingers on each hand across the letters to the sides of the “F” and “J”. Now with the right hand press “J” with the index finger, “K” with the middle finger, “L” with the ring finger and “'” with the pinky. Now use the same pattern with the left hand on the left side of the keyboard. As you type the letter, say it out loud. Once you know by heart each letter and its position, use this technique on the row above and below. This will help you in the beginning stages of typing to develop a base for your hands.

There are computer programs that have you type a particular letter and then after you type it, another letter will quickly appear. This is good practice for beginners learning the location of the letters on the keyboard. These programs will also have a timer set to keep a regular check on your speed of typing. Once you master a level, the program gives you a more difficult level, which will increase your speed.