1st – 5th Grade Difficulty

Typing Tanks: A Tank Typing Game With Paint Shells

Type the word on your paint shell to splat the rival tank, and type one letter to block its shots!

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★★★☆☆ Ages 6-11 ~5 min Letters Words Accuracy

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What is Typing Tanks?

Typing Tanks is a free tank typing game for kids. Your green tank and a rival tank face each other across a grassy hill, and your paint shell shows a letter or a word. Type it and the barrel lifts with every correct letter, then the shell flies over the hill and splats the rival with paint. Six splats and the rival waves a white flag, and a new rival rolls in with harder shells: home-row letters first, then the top row, the whole alphabet, three-letter words, four-letter words, five- and six-letter words, and after that endless champion rivals whose words are mostly seven to nine letters long. The bar under your shell is the rival's reload. When it runs out, the rival fires a paint ball with one letter on it, and typing that letter blocks it with a bubble shield. A ball that lands costs one of three hearts. No tank is ever destroyed; they only get covered in paint.

How to Play Typing Tanks

Typing Tanks is a one-on-one duel. Your green tank sits on the left of a small hill, a rival tank sits on the right, and a shell card above your tank shows a letter or a word. Each correct letter raises your barrel a little; finish the card and a paint shell flies over the hill and splats the rival. Six splats and the rival waves a white flag, you score a 50-point bonus, and a repair kit gives back a heart if you have lost one. Nothing explodes: hits only leave paint. The rival is loading too. A bar under your shell card runs from green to red, and when it runs out the rival fires a paint ball with a single letter on it. Type that letter once to block it with a bubble shield; a wrong key or no key and you lose one of your three hearts. Three wrong keys on the same shell jam your cannon, and the rival fires straight away, so mashing does not pay. Three clean shells in a row load a gold Turbo shell that counts as two splats and scores double. Each new rival asks for more: home-row letters first, then the top row, the whole alphabet, three-letter words, four-letter words, five- and six-letter words, and finally endless champion words of seven to nine letters with less time per shell. That ladder makes it a good fit from 1st to 5th grade. For a calmer letter game first, try Letter Rain; for a sentence race against a computer opponent, try Speed Duel.

Skills You'll Practice

Letters Practice more letters games
Words Practice more words games
Accuracy Practice more accuracy games

Recommended for These Grades

1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade

Why this grade range?

Typing Tanks fits 1st through 5th grade, about ages 6 to 11, because every rival is one step up a ladder. A 1st grader can beat the first rival with home-row letters and 7 seconds of reload per shell, and the second and third rivals add the top row and then the rest of the alphabet, still one letter at a time. 2nd and 3rd graders spend most of a game on rivals 4 to 6, where the shells carry three-letter, four-letter and then five- and six-letter words, with roughly one extra second of reload for each letter. 4th and 5th graders reach the champion rivals, where most words are seven to nine letters long and the reload gets shorter with every rival, so speed starts to count. The blocking letters keep younger players hunting for single keys, and the turbo shell rewards older kids for typing without mistakes instead of just typing fast.

Want something calmer after the tank battle? The home page has all our fun typing games for kids, plus a Typing Games by Grade Level section that shows each age where to start.

Pro Tips for Typing Tanks

  • 1

    Rest your fingers on the home row before you start. The first rival only uses A S D F G H J K L, so every shell is a key right under your fingers.

  • 2

    Watch the bar under your shell. It turns from green to orange to red as the rival reloads. Finish the shell before it runs out and the rival never gets a shot.

  • 3

    When a pink paint ball flies at you, look only at its letter. You get one try to block it, so find the key first and then press it.

  • 4

    Three clean shells in a row load a gold TURBO shell. It counts as two splats and doubles the points, but one wrong key on it turns it back into a normal shell.

  • 5

    A wrong key does not undo the letters you already typed, but three wrong keys on one shell jam it and the rival fires right away. When the plate says 1 MORE TRY, slow down.

  • 6

    Beating a rival gives back one lost heart, so after a rough round it pays to finish the next rival quickly.

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    Typing Tanks — Frequently Asked Questions

    What is Typing Tanks?
    Typing Tanks is a free browser typing game where you fire paint shells at a rival tank by typing the letter or word on each shell. It runs in any modern browser with a physical keyboard, with no download and no login.
    How do you beat a rival tank?
    Splat it six times. Each shell you finish takes one of the rival's six armor pips, and a gold turbo shell takes two. When the pips are gone the rival waves a white flag, you get 50 bonus points and one lost heart back, and the next rival rolls in.
    Which keys and words does Typing Tanks practice?
    Rival 1 uses the home row (A S D F G H J K L), rival 2 adds the top row, and rival 3 uses the whole alphabet. Rivals 4, 5 and 6 switch to three-letter, four-letter, and five- or six-letter words, and every rival after that uses champion words, mostly seven to nine letters long.
    What happens when the rival tank shoots back?
    When the reload bar under your shell runs out, or after three wrong keys on the same shell, the rival fires a pink paint ball with one letter on it. Type that letter before it lands to block it with your bubble shield and earn 5 points. A wrong key or a ball that lands costs one of your three hearts.
    Is Typing Tanks a violent game?
    No. The tanks fire paint, not explosives. A hit leaves a paint splat on the other tank, and a beaten rival waves a white flag and drives off. The tanks have big cartoon eyes and names like Rusty, Bolt and Dottie.
    Can a class play Typing Tanks together?
    Yes. A teacher can pick Typing Tanks in Class Race, and each student's score feeds the live classroom board, with no student accounts.