The computer keyboard for kids: keys, rows and why QWERTY

A full-size computer keyboard in the United States has 104 keys. Laptops have fewer, for example 78 on a MacBook Air with the US layout, and the letters sit in the same three rows on all of them.

That letter layout is called QWERTY, after the first six letters of the top row. This page is written for a grown-up and a child to read together, with a keyboard in front of you. Press the keys as you go.

We make Bumpy Keys, a typing game for ages 4 to 9, and we mention it in a few places below. We opened every source on this page on 3 October 2026. Each number, date, name and quotation names where it came from, and the full list is at the end.

How many keys does a keyboard have?

It depends on the keyboard. There is no single number, because makers add keys to big keyboards and leave keys off small ones. Here are the counts we could check.

Wikipedia's "Keyboard layout" article says "The U.S. national standard keyboard has 104 keys, while the PC keyboards for most other countries have 105 keys." Apple lists "78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys" for the MacBook Air.

Why 104 and not 101? Wikipedia's "Windows key" article says the Windows key arrived in 1994. Adding two Windows keys and a menu key changed the usual keyboard from 101 keys to 104.

Why do laptops have fewer? There is less room. Wikipedia's "Computer keyboard" article says laptop keyboards usually have "a reduced set of keys" and may not have a number pad.

Whatever the total, each of these keyboards has the same 26 letter keys and the same 10 number keys. Try it together: count the keys on your own keyboard and see what you get.

The rows of the keyboard

The main part of the keyboard has five rows. Start at the top and work down.

The number row

The number row runs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. Zero comes last, after 9. Hold Shift and press a number to type the mark printed above it. On a US keyboard, Shift and 1 make an exclamation mark.

The number row is the longest reach from the home row, so it is a good one to leave for later. When your child is ready for it, our number typing practice adds two numbers at a time, starting with 4 and 7.

The top row

The top row of letters is Q, W, E, R, T, Y, U, I, O, P. That is ten letters, and the first six spell QWERTY.

Some guides say "top row" for the keys along the very top edge. Chromebook Help, for example, says its special keys "usually appear on the top row of your keyboard." In typing lessons, the top row means the top row of letters.

The home row

The home row is the middle row of letters: A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, and then the semicolon key. That is nine letters. It is called home because the fingers rest here and come back here.

Wikipedia's "Touch typing" article gives the home keys: A, S, D and F for the left hand, and J, K, L and the semicolon for the right hand. To see which finger owns each key, open our home row keys chart. Press a key and it shows the finger for it.

The bottom row

The bottom row of letters is Z, X, C, V, B, N, M. That is seven letters. On a US keyboard the comma, the period and the slash come next. Our punctuation typing practice covers the period and the comma, one mark at a time.

The space bar

The space bar is the long key under the bottom row. Wikipedia's "Space bar" article calls it "significantly wider than all other keys." Its "Touch typing" article puts both thumbs on the space bar.

Keyboard layout chart: the three letter rows

This chart shows the QWERTY layout for a US keyboard. Read each row from left to right.

The rows follow the US layout shown in Wikipedia's "QWERTY" article. Keyboards made for other countries move some of the marks.

Add them up: 10 and 9 and 7 make 26, one key for every letter of the alphabet. To find all 26 in ABC order on your own keyboard, try type the alphabet.

Special keys a beginner meets

A new typist only needs five keys besides the letters. Find each one together and press it.

The names change a little from one keyboard to the next. On a Mac keyboard the erase key is called Delete. Apple's guide says "Press Delete to delete the character to the left of the insertion point."

The Shift key is older than computers. Wikipedia's "QWERTY" article says the Remington No. 2 typewriter of 1878 was the first typewriter with both capital and small letters, and it used a Shift key to switch.

Why is it called QWERTY?

Look at the top row of letters. The first six keys are Q, W, E, R, T and Y. Say them as one word and you get QWERTY. That is the whole reason for the name.

Where QWERTY came from

QWERTY is older than the computer. It was made for the typewriter, a machine that printed letters on paper. Christopher Latham Sholes, a printer and newspaper man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, built an early typewriter with Samuel W. Soulé, James Densmore and Carlos Glidden. Here is how the layout grew.

Yasuoka and Yasuoka is "On the Prehistory of QWERTY," a 2011 paper by Koichi Yasuoka and Motoko Yasuoka, published by Kyoto University. Smithsonian Magazine is Jimmy Stamp's 2013 article on the QWERTY keyboard.

Why the letters are not in ABC order

The first keyboard was in ABC order, so something changed. The plain answer is that nobody left one clear reason. Smithsonian Magazine puts it this way: "This is where the origin of QWERTY gets a little foggy."

The story you may have heard

Early typewriters printed with arms called type bars. Smithsonian Magazine calls this the popular theory: if a typist quickly pressed letters whose type bars were near each other, the machine would jam, so Sholes moved common letter pairs apart. The Yasuokas report that many papers and books go further and say the layout was made to slow typists down.

What two researchers found

Koichi Yasuoka and Motoko Yasuoka studied early typewriters, letters and patents. They found that E and R, one of the most used letter pairs in English, sat on type bars right next to each other. On the idea that QWERTY was meant to slow typists down, they write "It's false."

They tell a different story. The first customers were telegraph operators, who typed out messages that arrived in Morse code. The Yasuokas trace the keyboard changing again and again to suit those customers and the people building the machine. In their words, it "accidentally grew into QWERTY among the different requirements."

What is known, and what is not

What is known: who built it, when, and that the letters moved many times between 1868 and 1882. What is not known for sure is the reason for each move. If a book or a video gives one neat reason, it is fair to ask how they know.

There is one clue you can see for yourself. Look at the home row: D, F, G, H, J, K, L. Those letters are in ABC order, with only E and I left out. Wikipedia's "QWERTY" article, citing the economist Paul David, calls that run a leftover of the first alphabetical layout.

A short version for a child: the first keyboard went A, B, C. The inventors kept moving letters while they built better machines. The last version is the one everybody learned, so it stayed.

Why F and J have bumps

Close your eyes and slide a finger along the home row. Two keys feel different. F and J each have a small raised bump.

The bumps are there so your two pointer fingers can find home by feel. Wikipedia's "Touch typing" article says most modern computer keyboards have "a raised dot or bar on the home keys for the index fingers." When the pointer fingers are on F and J, the other fingers line up on the keys beside them.

For a first look at where each finger rests, print our home row mat and let your child set their fingers on it.

QWERTY keyboard practice: where to start

Practice follows the rows on this page, starting in the middle: the home row first, beginning with F and J, then the top row, then the bottom row, and the number row last. Our guide to touch typing for kids gives the key-by-key order and shows which finger presses which key.

We do not set an age for knowing the rows. Follow your child's skill and interest. Careful comes first, and quick can wait.

How a Chromebook keyboard is different

The official Chromebook Help pages say "Your Chromebook keyboard works just like a regular keyboard, with a few differences." The letters, the numbers and the rows are in the same places. These are the differences a beginner will notice.

• A Search key or a Launcher key. Chromebook Help says you use it "to search, or show your apps." Wikipedia's "Chromebook" article says the first Chromebook, a test model from 2010, put a search key in the place of the Caps Lock key.
• Caps Lock is a shortcut. Chromebook Help says to press Alt and Search, or Alt and Launcher, to turn Caps Lock on or off.
• Shortcut keys along the very top. Chromebook Help lists keys there for going back a page, refreshing the page, making the page fill the screen, and changing the brightness and the volume.

We could not find one published key count for Chromebooks, because each maker builds its own. Counting the keys on yours is the sure way to know.

Bumpy Keys plays in the browser on a Chromebook. See Bumpy Keys for Chromebook.

How an iPad keyboard is different

An iPad can show a keyboard on its screen. Open it with the language set to English and look together: the letters sit in the same three QWERTY rows. The keys are pictures on glass, so they do not press down, and there are no bumps to feel.

On-screen keys are a simple way to learn where the letters are. A real keyboard adds the part you feel. We make Bumpy Keys, and on iPad it works with on-screen keys or a real keyboard.

Where Bumpy Keys fits

We make Bumpy Keys, so weigh that as you read this part. It is a typing game for ages 4 to 9. It starts with the home row and puts accuracy before speed. Cartoon hands show which finger to use, and each finger has a color. Stars are earned for careful typing.

It plays in the browser at play.bumpykeys.com and as an app on iPad and Mac. All 100 lessons are free in two worlds, Puppy Park and Dino Dash. An optional one-time $4.99 purchase adds all twenty worlds. There is no subscription, there are no ads, and there are no player accounts. Progress stays on the device. Teachers can request free classroom codes on our teachers page.

Questions children and grown-ups ask

How many keys does a keyboard have?

It depends on the keyboard. A full-size US keyboard has 104 keys, and full-size keyboards in most other countries have 105. Laptops have fewer: a MacBook Air with the US layout has 78. Count the keys on your own keyboard to find its number.

How many letter keys are on a keyboard?

There are 26, one for each letter of the alphabet. The top row has 10 letters, the home row has 9 and the bottom row has 7.

What are the rows of the keyboard called?

From the top: the number row, the top row, the home row and the bottom row, with the space bar underneath. The top row starts with Q, the home row starts with A and the bottom row starts with Z.

Why is it called a QWERTY keyboard?

The name comes from the first six letters of the top row of letters: Q, W, E, R, T and Y.

Who invented the QWERTY keyboard?

Christopher Latham Sholes, a printer and newspaper man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, developed it with his partners in the years after their first typewriter patent in 1868. The company E. Remington and Sons signed a contract to make the machine in 1873 and put it on sale in 1874. The layout reached the form we use today in 1882.

Why are the letters not in ABC order?

The first typewriter keyboard by Christopher Latham Sholes and his partners was in ABC order. The letters were moved many times over the next few years, and nobody left one clear reason. A well-known story says the keys were mixed up to slow typists down. Koichi Yasuoka and Motoko Yasuoka studied the early machines for a 2011 paper published by Kyoto University, and they call that story false.

Why do F and J have bumps?

So your two pointer fingers can find the home row by feel. Most computer keyboards have a small raised dot or bar on F and J. When both pointer fingers are on the bumps, the other fingers line up on the keys beside them.

Is a Chromebook keyboard different?

The letters and numbers are in the same places. The official Chromebook Help pages say a Chromebook keyboard "works just like a regular keyboard, with a few differences." The main ones are a Search or Launcher key and a set of shortcut keys along the very top. To turn Caps Lock on or off, Chromebook Help says to press Alt and Search, or Alt and Launcher.

Sources

We opened each of these on 3 October 2026. The Wikipedia articles are quoted as they read on that day.

• Wikipedia, "Keyboard layout". The 104 keys of the US keyboard and the 105 keys used in most other countries.
• Wikipedia, "IBM PC keyboard". The 101-key Enhanced keyboard, introduced in April 1986.
• Wikipedia, "Windows key". The Windows key in 1994, and the change from 101 keys to 104.
• Wikipedia, "Computer keyboard". Laptop keyboards and their reduced set of keys.
• Apple, MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 2025) Tech Specs. The 78 keys of the US layout and the 79 keys of the ISO layout.
• Apple, Windows keys on a Mac keyboard. The Delete key on a Mac keyboard.
• Jimmy Stamp, "Fact of Fiction? The Legend of the QWERTY Keyboard", Smithsonian Magazine, 3 May 2013. Sholes and his partners, the 1868 patent, the 28 keys in ABC order, the 43 keys of 1873, the popular jamming story, the 1878 patent and the 1893 merger. We read the copy saved by the Internet Archive.
• Koichi Yasuoka and Motoko Yasuoka, "On the Prehistory of QWERTY", ZINBUN number 42, Kyoto University, March 2011. The 1873 contract, the 1874 release, the 1882 layout, Teletype, the telegraph operators, the slow-down story, and the E and R type bars. We read the PDF saved by the Internet Archive.
• US Patent 207,559, "Improvement in type-writing machines", read in the online patent record. Issued on 27 August 1878.
• Wikipedia, "QWERTY". The name, the US letter rows, the 1878 patent drawing, the Remington No. 2 and its Shift key, and the D to L run on the home row.
• Wikipedia, "Touch typing". The home keys for each hand, the thumbs on the space bar, and the raised dot or bar on the home keys.
• Wikipedia, "Space bar". The width of the space bar.
• Chromebook Help, "Use your Chromebook keyboard". The Search and Launcher keys, the Caps Lock shortcut, the keys along the top and the words "top row."
• Wikipedia, "Chromebook". The search key in the place of Caps Lock on the first Chromebook.

Keyboards change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.