TOS review-Keyboard Town Pals

Our family was chosen by The Old Schoolhouse to review a typing program called Keyboard Town Pals.  The goal is to teach children to type on a qwerty keyboard with little to no stress in a relaxed, easy format.  The program uses puppets and catchy songs to captivate the child.  In the first lesson, the child is introduced to Sunny, a big sun puppet. 

The child is then introduced to each letter, which has a puppet whose name begins with that letter, starting with Amy.  Keyboard Town uses a creative method for remembering letter locations.  There is home street, downtown and uptown.  Different puppets live on different streets.  There are catchy songs, one of which is being sung all the time in my house:  By the "C", by the "C", by the beautiful "C". 

You can see a sample of it here:

Features:
The program can be taught finger by finger, or one hand at a time.
Using this program during early elementary years reinforces early literacy with rhyming, letter sounds and blending.
The delete and backspace buttons are disabled, so the child won't freak out about correcting mistakes.
Available in cd-rom and web based versions
Ages:  All ages, once a child can recognize letters.
Cost: $30.00 to $45.00, depending if you want the basic program, or bundle with accessories.
You can purchase it here at the Keyboard Town Pals website.

So, now that you know all about it, I am going to tell you what my tester said about it.  Emma was the reviewer for this one.  Initially, she was totally freaked out by Sunny.  She refused to do the second lesson, but that is pretty typical for Emma.  After showing Sunny to everyone in the family, she warmed up to it.  She really liked that I had her do short, finger by finger lessons, lasting around 7 minutes at a time.  She isn't into long, drawn out lessons, so this was a good option.  She liked the puppets and enjoyed plopping down to do her work.  She had this to say about it: "At first I didn't like it, but now I really do and I wish I could have it for a long time."  Which is funny, because since she finished it, she doesn't really need it anymore.

I asked Sarah if she wanted to try it, and she said no way, the puppets were scary.  So there you go.  One kid was able to adjust to the puppets, one was not.  I'd have to say here, know your student.  If you know your kiddo is not into or scared of puppets, this program would not be a good fit. 

To find out what other reviewers thought of this product, click here.

disclaimer:  I received Keyboard Town Pals in exchange for my honest review.  All the opinions are my own, or that of my children.