Osmo - Genius Starter Kit for iPad - 5 Educational Learning Games - Ages 6-10 - Math, Spelling, Creativity & More - STEM Toy & Coding Starter Kit for iPad - 3 Hands-on Learning Games - Ages 5-10+

Product Information

Designed to cover the elementary school fundamentals of math, reading, creativity, geography, and coding, this Osmo kit throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Math Wizard teaches addition, counting, place value, multiplication and mathematical thinking using interactive fantasy stories and game-like elements like creating potions out of specific item quantities, measuring dragons. The kit includes an Osmo set, rule books, game pieces, counting cubes, a unique placemat, unique game tokens and rulers. Designed to hone the skills developed in kindergarten , this kit is very similar to the elementary school starter kit in that it includes the osmo set, a digital drawing board, number, letter and coding tiles and 11 apps that cover cover spelling, math, science, art and even basic coding (which is something a little more unique in the kindergarten education space).

Award-Winning Educational Games System for iPad | Osmo

While the Osmo base and reflector remain more or less the same, each kit contains different games and pieces to use and so the price can differ pretty widely between kits. Starter Kits For parents who would rather start off using Osmo to develop or enrich a specific skill set, Osmo has recently introduced kits focused around a single, specific skill area. These can be a welcome addition to families, particularly homeschoolers, looking to supplement specific at-home learning curricula with Osmo’s skill building activities. Because these kits are designed for very young kids, the play pieces are brightly colored, and soft play pieces that we think really grab their attention while still being safe to use. It even comes with a silicon, mousepad-like playpad and some storage containers that make playing with the pieces a lot easier (and neater). Once everything is set up, the result is a fairly impressive and unique digital-tactile experience for kids.Kids being kids, this can lead to some fairly expensive damage without proper parental supervision, so this probably isn’t a toy you should leave your kids alone with unsupervised. Osmo’s play-based learning approach is also quite well implemented, which is no surprise given that the device was actually developed with the help of child development experts. Though it’s interactive apps Osmo does, however, offer a powerful focused skill-based learning in a variety of core areas for kids in its target age range (3-12). Finally, Osmo’s game-like nature makes learning enjoyable, yet challenging, and gives students a strong feeling of accomplishment with plenty of audio-visual rewards for correct answers. Osmo Kits and Pricing In addition, by incorporating physical activities with manipulatives, Osmo can help kids develop and improve other, equally important, cognitive skills such as:

Osmo Award-Winning Educational Games System for iPad | Osmo

Designed for kids ages 3-5, the preschool starter kit takes the Little Genius Starter Kit, which itself is already designed for younger kids, and adds a digital drawing board and a variety of early childhood skill-building apps that work on shapes, counting, the alphabet, spelling and science. The basic Osmo set up involves a few pieces of hardware that work together to create an augmented reality experience for kids that is actually pretty impressive. Being more tightly focused and, really, smaller kits, these tend to be a little more affordable than the other starter kits available and can be a good introduction to Osmo if you have a specific area you’d like your child to work on. Designed for kids ages 6-10, the Genius kit comes with the Osmo set and 5 games that cover spatial relationships, spelling, math, basic physics and drawing.Focused around art (particularly drawing) and creative thinking, this kit includes the Osmo set, a digital drawing board, some erasable markers and 3 apps (Monster, Newton and Masterpiece) that help develop creativity and drawing skill, as well as some drawing-assisted physics in the case of Newton. With its combination of digital apps and physical manipulatives, we think Osmo offers a uniquely interactive tactile-digital learning experience that can really give kids fun and engaging focused skill practice in a variety of core Pre-K to Elementary level subjects. Designed for preschool kindergarten learners, the Little Genius kit contains the Osmo set and four games that cover topics such as learning the alphabet, pre-drawing art, puzzles and emotional/social development. Of course, as nice as it may be, gameplay isn’t enough for an educational device like Osmo. It should actually provide a good amount of educational value. There is a stand or base for your tablet to plug into and a reflector, which is essentially a plastic covered mirror that slides over the front facing camera of your device.

Osmo 901-00091 Coding Starter Kit for iPad Educational Toy, 1 Osmo 901-00091 Coding Starter Kit for iPad Educational Toy, 1

Combines the base Little Genius and Genius sets, offering the Osmo set as well as all 9 basic games. Overall, a good option if you want a Genius set that grows with your child as it covers ages 3-10. Interestingly, these coding programs use physical squares that fit together like a puzzle to create different programming instructions that are then played out on screen. Like a physical version of Scratch coding, which is pretty cool. Designed for kids ages 5-10, the Explorer Starter Kit provides a fairly broad range of educational subjects. As educators and parents we also like that Osmo has separated its starter kits based around different learning philosophies, with age- and skill-based kits providing ready options for parents, i.e. whether they prefer to take a skill-based vs grade-based teaching approach. Bottom Line: While Osmo can be used by kids as young as 3, and the physical pieces are pretty safe for that age range, keep in mind that your tablet must be removed from any bulky protective casings you may have.Originally created for kids 6 and up, Osmo has recently expanded its product line to include kits and games suitable for preschoolers and kindergarteners, and so can be used by kids 3+ as well. With fresh, modern graphics and animations and lots of engaging content (some from popular franchises, such as Disney’s Frozen), they really do feel like top-quality games and certainly kept our tester enthralled for hours.