And, to their credit, Osmo produces new content pretty frequently so there is usually something new coming out. In addition, by incorporating physical activities with manipulatives, Osmo can help kids develop and improve other, equally important, cognitive skills such as: Designed to cover Pre-K to 3rd grade math skill development, this includes the Osmo set, a variety of number/dot tiles and silicon math pieces, a play mat and 6 game apps that cover counting, addition, multiplication, shape, number and color recognition and more. With that said, there aren’t that many other educational augmented reality kits for young kids that provide a tactile-digital experience and cover such a wide range of subjects. I enjoy watching and even playing alongside my little one. I feel good knowing that she is playing imaginatively, practising her fine motor skills and learning ABCs, in an innovative way. ”

Educational Games System for iPad | Osmo Award-Winning Educational Games System for iPad | Osmo

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. Interestingly, you can also put together your own Osmo set up by buying the hardware and games individually, if you have some time and feel the starter kits may be too expensive or if you’d like to dip your toe in first. Hardware Components 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). 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. 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.

Although Osmo can be expensive for many families, we do like the flexibility that is built into the system itself. Designed for kids ages 5-10, the Explorer Starter Kit provides a fairly broad range of educational subjects.

Award-Winning Educational Games System for iPad | Osmo

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). 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. 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. Osmo has a variety of kits available that teach a variety of different skill sets, age groups and touch on different subjects.

There are very few functional augmented reality systems out there for kids, fewer still that work as they’re supposed to and in this way Osmo is fairly unique. 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. Whether it’s in completing puzzles, filling in answers, moving characters around, or digitally transforming their drawings into fun animations, the technology itself is quite impressive and worked quite reliably for us. These can be a welcome addition to families, particularly homeschoolers, looking to supplement specific at-home learning curricula with Osmo’s skill building activities. 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.