The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.
We’ve been having a lot of fun over summer vacation- but it’s important to us that we do a lot of learning, too. Since it’s not always easy to get a six year old to want to study up over summer break, we’ve been doing something sneaky. For the last few weeks, he’s been learning while doing one of his favorite things- playing video games!
We recently received the Osmo game system for our iPad and it has quickly become one of our favorite things! The entire family loves to play with it, whether we’re facing off on a round of Words or saving fish with Numbers. A personal favorite of mine is Masterpiece, since I’ve always wanted to be able to draw but have never been any good at it!
The Osmo Genius Kit comes with 5 games- Words, Masterpiece, Tangram, Newton and Numbers. You can buy the new Coding pack for even more fun, but these first five are included with the kit.
Tangram- Arrange wooden puzzle pieces into matching onscreen shapes. Play with your child or challenge yourself to more advanced levels with Osmo acting as your mentor by lighting up with each victory.
Newton- Use your creativity with inventive objects such as a handdrawn basket, grandma’s glasses, dad’s keys or anything around you to guide falling onscreen balls into targeted zones.
Words- Be the first to guess and spell out the onscreen hidden word by tossing down real-life letters faster than your friends. A related picture gives the clue.
Masterpiece- Supercharge your drawing skills with Masterpiece. Pick any image from the camera, curated gallery or integrated web search and Masterpiece will transform it into easy-to-follow lines and help you draw it to perfection. You can then share a magical timelapse video of your creation with your friends and family.
Numbers- With a counting, addition, connection and multiplication mode, there is a challenge for everybody. As kids get more confident in one mode, they can move on the the next one, allowing them to learn at their own pace.
All of the games work by using your iPad camera to connect the world around you with the screen. Whether the camera is watching you draw or recognizing your letter selection in Words, it’s incredibly fast! I thought it would be incredibly difficult trying to use the Masterpiece game, since you have to watch the screen while you draw. However, after maybe thirty seconds or so, it became like second nature and I didn’t have to concentrate on it anymore!
All of us have loved playing the games. While Zac is a bit too young for most of it {though he does like “helping” me, especially with Numbers} the rest of us have enjoyed all the games. It’s actually become a tradition that we play a few round of Words before bedtime! I love that the Osmo Genius Kit has allowed us to spend more time together as a family, while Shane is actually learning {and having fun at the same time}.
You can find the Osmo Gaming System on BestBuy.com or at your local Best Buy!
