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). 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.

Osmo - Genius Starter Kit for Fire Tablet - 5 Educational

A rather new and unique title in the Osmo series, this kit is designed around Osmo’s Math Wizard app series, an adventure/RPG series of educational math games that teach math up to grade 3. Whether it’s using a pen to draw, arranging number tiles or letter pieces, with Osmo there’s a lot of hands-on play involved that is complimented by well-made digital animations and games that interact with what they’re doing in real life.

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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. 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. This aims the camera at the area in front of the device where your child’s hands and the kit’s pieces will be, letting the software “see” them.

Osmo Award-Winning Educational Games System for iPad | Osmo

The apps themselves are, unlike many other educational apps out there, actually quite well made and modern. Three of our free apps don't require any pieces to play and can be used with any Starter Kit: Masterpiece (for iPad and Fire), Newton (for iPadand Fire), and Projector (for iPad). Play experience for Masterpiece and Newton is improved with the use of the Monster game/Creative Set. In fact, it can run on pretty much any iPad that runs iOS 10+, with the notable exceptions of the first generation iPad, the Air 4, and the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro series. Osmo is a very modular system in that the heart of the system is the base, the reflector and your tablet. The rest, the manipulatives and digital apps, all work through those pieces of hardware.

Customer reviews

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. I’ve never seen my son so engaged in talking about emotions and facial expressions – from a developmental milestone perspective, this was amazing. ” Although Osmo can be expensive for many families, we do like the flexibility that is built into the system itself. Founded in 2013, Osmo is a learning kit that blends hands-on play with digital games to create a unique augmented reality-based interactive learning experience for kids ages 3-11. And, to their credit, Osmo produces new content pretty frequently so there is usually something new coming out.

Osmo - Genius Starter Kit for iPad - 5 Educational Learning Osmo - Genius Starter Kit for iPad - 5 Educational Learning

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. 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 6-10, the Genius kit comes with the Osmo set and 5 games that cover spatial relationships, spelling, math, basic physics and drawing. The Smarter Learning Guide is dedicated to researching, reviewing and finding the best educational products and services and presenting them to you in an easy-to-understand way. 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). Once everything is set up, the result is a fairly impressive and unique digital-tactile experience for kids. 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.

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

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. 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. So while Osmo has excellent compatibility with Apple devices, Samsung and other Android users will have to look elsewhere. How Osmo Works Designed for kids in grades 1-7, this kit includes the osmo set, a digital drawing board, number, letter and coding tiles and 15 apps that cover spelling, math, science, art and coding at a variety of difficulty levels which should take kids comfortably through to the beginning of middle school in terms of skill level.What hardware do we need to play the Osmo Coding Games, the Genius Starter Kit games, Reading Adventure, Monster, Pizza Co., Detective Agency, and Little Genius Starter Kit games on the iPhones? 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 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. 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 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.