Customer Reviews

Keyboard Town PALS "Learn to Type." Choose ENGLISH, choose SPANISH or choose FRENCH version. Charming puppets teaching kids keyboarding using music and humor. (Win/Mac compatible)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this program, based on all the positive reviews, for my 11-year-old niece who had no typing experience. Just like the reviews said, it is an excellent program that is positive and focuses on helping the child learn the hand and finger placement. My niece absolutely got a great introduction to typing. However, it is only two lessons--that's all--other than a couple of very brief exercises. There are no series of drills or games to help the child practice the initial two lessons. Therefore, I'd like to point out that, for what you get, the price of this program is very, very expensive. I had to go out and buy a second program so that she could practice her typing.

My husband Robert has been telling me about this product for 3 months and how great it would be for our 7 year old son Spencer. However, between our new born baby girl and day to day tasks I never got around to looking at it (Sorry Robert! I love you!). Anyhow, I finally bought Keyboard Town Pals last week and I am BLOWN AWAY! Spencer cant wait to get on the computer and practice and I am elated because its hard to get him interested in "school stuff." The puppets are entertaining and there's no pressure like when I was a girl in school. I thoroughly recommend this product. So creative!

After spending a few hours attempting to download the program and use it I was frustrated. All that I got was sound and no video. Even after having my son - a computer pro - come to my home and work on it, we still had no video. I was in tears. Well, I posted a less than positive review here (that is why I gave it only 1 star). A few hours later a customer service employee contacted me by phone. She ended up sending me the program through my email (an online version) and it worked! Although I was aggravated trying to download the program at first, the customer service person at Keyboard Town Pals was very understanding and helpful. Keyboard Pals seems to really care about their customers and their product. Purchase this with confidence! If Amazon would allow me to change more than the written part of my review, I'd move my rating to 5 stars. My daughter will be up and using the program tomorrow and learning to type!. Thanks.

I am 23 years old and have tried countless times to memorize the place of each key and the proper finger positioning using regular online typing programs for hours and making agonizing slow progress, not ot mention the humiliation one endures when the program forces you to repeat the same lesson 20 times... With this program within a day i knew and remembered every key, and really appreciated the brilliance of this educational approach.

This is not only only great for kids, but for anyone that is fed up one-finger typing, and is looking to save hours of time and aggravation.

Thank you so much, and i hope you continue to put out such creative and original products!

This is the best. In school I remember the stress and tension of typewriting drilling. Here you have Pals (friendly, charming puppets) all the way - from the first key on the keyboard to the last. A soft encouraging voice accompanies you to every key. You can practice without having to keep up with others or look up and see the stern expression of a teacher. You are always with gentle humorous puppets who introduce you to the clusters of neighboring keys. It is fun; it is fast - and it works!

Overall, a very unique and entertaining way to teach typing to this new generation who will be using keyboards throughout their lives. My 14 year old had a hard time getting used to not being corrected. This was the method she had been exposed to with Mavis Beacon but understood the reason behind the change. My younger daughter was looking for a game with the puppets to reinforce the lessons. Maybe this is something they could add in a later version.

Let's face it: Teaching your children their way around a keyboard wasn't much fun. Until KTP came along, with this fun, innovative introduction to the world of typing.
My children, ages 3, 7 & 9, were glued to the screen while watching their new, puppet friends teach them how to navigate their way around the keyboard.
Kudos to the creators KTP!

The Keyboard Town PALS program is actually created by a client of mine; this is an incredible product that does what it says.

In the time I've worked with its creators, I've seen how its innovative method helps kids (and adults!) to learn how to type in a stress-free manner; the program uses associative learning which helps strengthen memory for where keys are located.

Of note: They also recently launched a web-enabled version of the product available through their website that works on Mac and on PC.

Keyboard Town Pals taught my 9 year old daughter to keyboard in just one hour (really!). Best of all, my 75 year old father did it too. We followed the program as directed and did lesson one on day one and lesson two on day two. We did it again the following day and the rest is history; she has never looked back. My father is now a believer and devotee of the Keyboard Town Pals method. The story is easy to understand, easy to follow, and the methodical nature of the program allowed it to be memorized and immediately put to use. This keyboarding program is a winner!

Hello Donna and the KBTP family,

What a wonderful little piece of software! My Down Syndrome son who is 12 immediately was taken by the warm and charming characters (rather reminiscent of Sesame, so familiar to him, in a way) and wanted to sit down and watch the whole thing through.

Once that was done he had no problem following directions (with me by his side as a prompter) and was able to finish one hand (left) in an hour long session.

I will say that for a Down Syndrome individual or an individual with impaired cognitive and motor ability, it might be a little too fast...I remedied this by pressing the pause button until he was ready for the next piece of info. Not really a problem but something to consider if there is a re-issue for a special needs version.

Also we took an hour on just one hand...which we actually had to break into two sessions because of attention and fatigue issues.

We practiced one hand, watching the sessions over until I felt comfortable with it and then went to the other hand, following the same daily pattern.

Result: IN ABOUT A 2 WEEK PERIOD OF TIME, MY DOWN SYNDROME SON HAS LEARNED ALL HIS FINGER POSITIONS WITH 98% ACCURACY. HE CAN NOW TYPE AT 5WPM.

This does not mean that he has the speed but the basic "how to" is there...and I credit KBTP for this.

Now we use another typing program, for the practice, speed and the games.

The interesting thing is that he asks for KBTP almost daily and goes through it at a much faster speed than at the beginning. Also, when he is on the other typing program and just doing his lessons, he tells himself where to put his fingers for each key USING KBTP CHARACTERS...isn't that funny...!

He is writing 10 - 12 sentence paragraphs on subjects that interest him. Writing will probably never be his forte so typing is a wonderful option for him. Once he writes his creative writing he proceeds to type it!

I would like to add that my operating system was not being very cooperative with the KBTP CD version and two wonderful people stayed with me and my trials until we made it work. Thank you Donna and Dan for your patience.!

Now I am waiting for a Mac version of the CD so that my son Robin can keep on using it on his MacBook at school.

Thank you again for a wonderful program!

Keep up the awesome work!

Gri and Robin Buongiorne