With the kids not going back to school for the foreseeable future, I am keen to find different learning opportunities for them.
I was invited to review the Osmo Genius Starter Kit which combines physical play with the digital world, giving children everything they need to experience hands-on learning and digital fun in five different ways, including numbers, words and tangram.
Osmo is a unique educational tool that opens up your iPad, or Amazon Fire, to the infinite possibilities of imaginative play, crafted with reflective artificial intelligence.
In the box
The Genius Starter Kit includes everything your kids need to experience hands-on learning and digital fun in five different ways and includes:
- Osmo Stand
- Word game cards
- Maths game cards
- Tangrams game cards
- Reflector
- Welcome booklet
The award-winning games make core subjects like maths and spelling fresh and fun and the kids could not wait to get started.
Before you begin, you need to download the apps, available on App Store and Amazon and create an account. Place the iPad in the Osmo stand and place the red reflector over the camera at the top.
Maths Game
The kids can then choose their own fun profile avatar and add their name before they start playing. Sebby tried the Maths game first.
There are no game instructions, but Sebby intuitively understood what he had to do and then learned how to progress in the game by trial and error.
The mirror needs to the see the physical tiles to play, which including dots and digits, to make numbers and complete the levels. Add by putting more tiles, subtract by removing tiles and multiply by connecting tiles together. Experimenting becomes fast and intuitive and I was surprised by how quickly Sebby was completing the questions, adding up the dots to get to the answers he needed. In fact, he was having so much fun that Isaac came along to join in too.
Tangrams
Next up was Eliza who wanted to try the Tangrams challenge, which hones essential skills like visual thinking.
You have to arrange tangible puzzle pieces to match the on-screen shapes. You can play with a friend or challenge yourself to more advanced levels as your handy-work lights up with each victory.
It looks easy at first, but you need to get your shapes lined up just right to be able to move up a level, which is trickier than it looks, as they start taking the colours away as you move up the levels.
Word Game
We tried the word game last as Sebby does struggle with English, but the game was a hit too.
The word game gets you to look at the on-screen clue to guess the secret word, and zoom the correct letter tiles into the play space to spell your answer. Each letter you get right appears on screen, until eventually the entire word is revealed. It is great fun to play and kept Sebby engaged for ages.
There are also other apps that you can download including Newton, to help with creative problem-solving and Masterpiece which helps with self-expression.
TOP TIP: Make sure your tablet is fully charged before you start, as the games to drain the battery quite quickly.
There are many other additions to the Osmo library of games. Eliza has her eye on the Super Studio apps, which work with special drawing books to make your drawings come to life on screen, Isaac wants to try Coding Jam, to make his own music and as travel lovers, Detective Agency looks great for learning about Geography.
The Genius Kit is suitable for ages 6-10, and has an RRP of £99.99. You can find out more about Osmo here: https://www.playosmo.com/en-gb/
Disclaimer: We were sent the Osmo Genius Kit to review. All thoughts and opinions are our own
What a fabulous interative game! It’s nice to add some fun into the learning, it all seems to be dragging at the moment and the novely of lockdown has seriously waned! Sim x
This is a pretty cool way of learning and playing in the same time. I like that they have managed to make learning math fun! It’s very interesting how the app on the tablet works with the physical pieces.
This sounds like such a wonderful educational tool. I could definitely see Jack using and enjoying something like this.
This sounds like such a great kit of kids to learn and play with. What an awesome amount of things to do with it as well.
These look fantastic, my son loves coding and anything else associated with challengers etc using technology, something well worth looking at, great review.
This looks a great way to learn through playing, which to me is a great way for kids to learn I know maths games helped my daughter so much when she was little
This looks fantastic – I know my boys would have loved it when they were younger, and it’s perfect for learning at home right now
I think we all have to agree that technology is going to be a huge part of kids education, but having a mixture of physical and digital is great x
This looks great and, from personal experience, the sooner you can get your kids interested in maths in particular the better. Making it fun is definitely the way forward.
I would love to win this for my 8 year old, I think she would love it!
Oh wow how cool is this, I love how interactive it is, combining the tablet with actual physical products too! My little ones are getting very fed up with “worksheets” now that school provide and I think this would really capture my little ones attention and imagination, I will go check it out!
This looks really good. this would be perfect for my friends little girl, so I will let her know about this thanks x
My son and daughter would love this, great educational tool, especially during this home schooling era that we are going through!
Looks absolutely amazing, would love this for my grandson who struggles with his learning but loves fun – so as this incoporates both he might be more interested in learning.
Love this amazing an fabulous game review reading. Thank you for sharing this review.
This interactive game is absolutely fantastic! It’s great to have an enjoyable way to incorporate learning into the mix.