In this time of lockdown and school closures I’ve just discovered a range of fabulous educational smart games called Osmo which are a fantastic tool for parents to make use of. We recently partnered to work together, something I very rarely do here on the Imagination Tree as I don’t often find products I genuinely believe are in line with my philosophy of learning through creative, open-ended play.
With Osmo however, I have been seriously impressed by the ingenuity of these games, as they have very cleverly balanced the screen time with interactive materials, meaning the child is fully involved, active and engaged during play! As such, they’re not at all passive, instead requiring plenty of problem solving, creativity and thinking skills to be used as they play.
The difference comes from the fact that the space in front of the screen becomes an interactive play mat, where children use real manipulatives to answer the questions, recreate images they see on the screen and solve problems.
There are lots of different programs that can be downloaded with accompanying kits bought to match them. These include learning games (ABCs, Words, Stories, Numbers, Tangrams), creativity (Squiggle Magic, Masterpiece and design (Newton, Costume Party) and coding, which was my kids’ favourite of all!
