Osmo, the popular iPad accessory to schools and at-home learning, has just released a new curriculum called Math Wizard that’s aimed at kids 6-8 years old to experience math through hands-on narrative- and adventure-driven games, where kids learn math skills using real-world objects that seen by the iPad app.
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Integrating real-world objects into a fun iPad game is Osmo’s brand; we reviewed the company’s drawing game, Osmo Monster, last year. Today, Osmo has announced the latest addition to its collection, Coding Jam. The game has kids placing physical tiles in front of the iPad display to create musical sequences and melodies.
The game introduces children to abstract coding concepts like loops and subroutines, through the motions of creating complicated snippets of music. For example, users can place a looping tile onto the table with a ‘2’ to have the enclosed sequence of sounds repeat two times.
What kind of parent are you if you don’t plunk down $80 for one of these OSMO things right now? I just got one. Amazon reviewers gave it an impressive 4.8/5 stars and it comes with 4 apps. The latest, Masterpiece for iPad [free, App Store] lets kids learn to draw by a type of tracing using the iPad camera illustrated in the excellent Sandwich video above.
After the kids are done you can send it all over the place or print it out. There is a nice video capture feature as well that replays the drawing which looks like it will pump up your kids for the next drawing.
The OSMO game system has three other games at present: Words, Newton and Tangram
It looks pretty cool but I’ll see if I can corral my 6 year old into a review.
Press release follows:
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Parents who share their iPads with their kids for playing games and other entertainment will want to check out this novel idea from the startup company Tangible Play. The product is a combination of iPad game apps and iPad accessories that use the front-facing camera to connect real world gameplay and interactions with what is happening within the compatible apps. At launch, three apps will be available: Tangram, Newton, and Words.
As TechCrunch points out, the company behind Osmo is founded by former Google employees:
The company was founded by ex-Googlers, including Pramod Sharma, who had earlier seen the the intersection of physical and digital when he helped build Google’s book-scanning machine, and Jérôme Scholler, who had worked on Chrome for Android.
For parents and iPad owners interested in Osmo, the game set is currently available for pre-order in a crowdsourcing campaign to raise funds for development. Early backers can join in on the fun at $49 and the final product is expected to ship later this fall. Osmo will be regularly priced at $99 starting June 22nd, so interested backers will want to jump in soon.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbwIJMz9PAQ]