Why Keyboarding Matters for Young Writers — and How to Make It Fun

For generations, children learned to write with pencil and paper. Today, however, most academic and professional writing happens on a keyboard. Schools are increasingly recognizing that keyboarding is no longer just a “nice-to-have” skill—it’s an essential part of literacy. In fact, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) now includes computer-based writing tasks, reflecting the reality that digital fluency is inseparable from communication.

The Problem: Writing and Typing Gaps

Yet many schools still don’t explicitly teach typing, leaving children to “pick it up” on their own. Research from the Journal of Educational Computing Research (2021) shows that students who develop efficient keyboarding skills early can produce longer, higher-quality writing compared to peers still hunting for keys. For young writers, frustration with typing can quickly derail creativity.

How WriteStories Helps

This is where WriteStories shines. By inviting children to write their own stories to match picture books, the platform provides meaningful keyboard practice. Instead of repetitive drills or timed tests, kids type words and sentences with purpose, motivated by their own creativity. The structure of illustrated pages helps them focus on expression, while naturally reinforcing keyboard familiarity and speed.

Practical Tip for Parents and Teachers

If your child struggles with typing, pair practice with a creative activity. Instead of assigning “type these words 10 times,” give them a fun challenge:

• Retell a favorite movie scene in their own words.
  
• Write a silly caption for a pet photo.
  
• Or, better yet, use WriteStories to bring a wordless book to life.
  

When typing is tied to storytelling, practice feels less like work and more like play.

Why It Matters for the Future

Strong keyboarding isn’t just about convenience. It reduces cognitive load, freeing up brainpower for higher-level skills like organizing ideas, building arguments, and refining style. In other words, typing fluently lets kids spend more time thinking—and less time searching for the right key. WriteStories provides exactly that kind of bridge: building essential digital literacy while keeping writing joyful.