Osmo Coding
© 2016 Tangible Play
The idea of turning commands into puzzle parts that only fit together in one way dates back to the first days of LEGO Mindstorms, and later Scratch. Many programs now use this idea. But this is the first to use tangible puzzle parts that you can physically move around on a tabletop. The magic is in the tiny mirror which fits onto your iPad, your iPad's front camera can "see" the objects sitting on the table in front of it. In this case it sees a set of 19 tiles, which you use to help a hungry creature (Awbie) through a maze to collect strawberries. The puzzles are well-designed, and the physical parts have a nice magnetic "snap" to them, making this a truly tangible experience. Note: You'll need to take your iPad out of any protective casing in order to fit the mirror over the top. Osmo will work with any standard sized iPad with a front facing camera (The larger iPad Pro won't fit in the base). We also noticed that the continuous use of the camera drains the iPad's battery, so you may want to have a charger nearby. The app download is free, but won't work unless you have the $75 coding kit. We wished there was a sandbox element to the activity, where you could freely explore with the coding parts.
$75, iPad (regular sized only)
Teaches: coding, logic, math, counting, number lines
CTR Rating: 88%