Everything is better with Mickey Mouse, and that includes learning to type!
Get ready to take off on an adventure to Typlandia where you must help Mickey and friends navigate through a series of challenges to make their way from the village to the palace. Sounds like a fun video game, right? It is, but hidden within Mickey’s Typing Adventure are lessons to build typing skills. By the time kids master each level and reach the palace they will have a well-rounded background in proper typing.
Intended to introduce typing to school-aged children ages 6-12, I took a leap and decided that K (who turns 5 this month) is old enough to enjoy the game and benefit from the new skills set. I was right.
Playing the game was her very first introduction to typing (although she is pretty good at the ‘ole hunt-and-peck method). With her little fingers properly stretched out on the keyboard she got the idea of “home row keys” pretty quickly – although not yet proficiently. My only note about starting her so young on this game is that she really needs an adult to sit with her for guidance – in part because the whole computer learning thing is new to her and part because she needs help focusing on the “boring parts” (it is still a skills lesson after all).
Getting started we quickly learned that more advanced levels (and games) are locked until the player masters the previous skill. Mom thought this was very smart, otherwise I am sure K would jump to much more advanced games and quickly become frustrated. K on the other hand really wanted to play a game with Mickey Mouse, and his games come later in the story (the first level is Huey, Dewey, Louie and Daisy). Oh well, I guess it is motivation for her to work on her skills!
At each level, a new skill is introduced and a new game to practice that skill is unlocked. For obvious reasons, the games are K’s favorite part. To begin, she practiced the dfjk keys and the asl; keys. Since this is her first introduction, the beginning level was perfect. I have to admit that while I am a fairly proficient typer, when I tried my hand at typing those home row keys over and over again without actually typing words, just strings of letters, I was challenged. Perhaps mom needs to go back and brush up on her basics 🙂
For older or more advanced players, typing courses can be adjusted to skip over the more basic tutorials. However, there is nothing wrong with brushing up on the basics. (Shhhh… don’t tell K she could skip ahead, she isn’t ready!) There are 11 skill level courses and seven corresponding games in Mickey’s Typing Adventure.
In addition to the stills lessons and games, players can practice typing passages from 10 Disney stories including Tangled, Â The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and more. Since K’s new things is to copy words from books to practice her writing, I am sure she will enjoy typing entire passages — when she gets there.
K starts Kindergarten in the fall where she will have regular access to a computer at school, so I am excited to get her started on learning to type now. It can only help her later.
Mickey’s Typing Adventure is available for PC and Mac for instant download from Amazon. The software CD is also available from Amazon (and is slightly cheaper than the instant download).
I received a copy of Mickey’s Typing Adventure to facilitate this review, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
OMGoodness this typing program is adorable. I can see my girls using this ,(Heck my son and hubby really could stand to use it if you get my drift LOL), for hours. I have actually been thinking about getting them a typing program so this is awesome. Thank you for sharing your review.
What a cute way for kids to learn to type !!!
This is so cute. I remember playing typing games in computer class and loving it, but adding in mickey seems way better.
I remember enjoying typing games in computer class, but ours didn’t have fun characters like mickey. This is cute.
What a great learning tool!! My daughter would love to try it!
What a neat way to learn how to type. My son would love this when he is old enough.
I need this for my middle child. I couldn’t get her into preschool and have been trying to do things on my on.
What a fun way to learn to type!
This looks great for young kids. I can’t think of a better them than Disney to make typing fun! I really think if the games are fun, kids will play 10x as much and become better typists. Fun typing games = effective typing games. This one looks very good.
Okay so I was thinking along the same lines as Teresa in the fact that my husband could most definitely use this software. (He slept through his high school typing class it would seem. lol.) Seriously though, this software looks awesome. Super cute!
I love this as a gift for children. Computers are so commonplace these days and function as a daily tool for children at a very early age. It is nice to have a tool out their to teach children proper hand placement and use in order to give them the fundamentals. I know several adults that could use this as well as I wonder if their fingertips aren’t going to bleed soon from all the pecking at the keys.
i wish i had this when i was young. i might like typing it i did 🙂
My six year old LOVES to type on my laptop. I would love to introduce this so she could learn proper typing form while having fun. Right now she’s a firm hunt-and-peck typist!
I was forced to take typing in high school — who knew that it would eventually be an essential skill for everyone? How great that kids can learn the keyboard so easily! I would buy this item in a heartbeat.
this is a great way to learn typing! good for kids
I would love for my son to try this program!
this is so cool 🙂
Really neat, all my kids would like this!
My niece would love to play on one of these. This looks like a lot of fun! I would like to get this for her for Christmas!
wow! typing is so important ! !! ! great learning tool
this looks like a fun way to learn! I know a lot of kids that would enjoy this. lots of mickey love here!
this looks so fun!:) i love itt.. my daughter loves minnie mouse..
typing is so important !:) plus micky is a big help!
A really cute program to teach typing. I wish they had this when I was learning to typing on the computer instead of the boring program we had to use. I will keep this product in mind when my daughter is old enough to learn to type.