Play Osmo: the coolest new interactive iPad game

I’ll admit that both of my kids are iPad obsessed. One of Ryan’s favorite things to do is search the app store for awesome new games to play. He’s almost 5 and we do money counting games, math, sight words, puzzles, and some critical thinking games that are even hard for me. Yes, we play some Angry Birds, too 😉 Rebecca is almost 3 and likes anything Disney or watching Daniel Tiger, meow meow. While I do feel they’re learning on these games, sometimes I’d like to get them off the iPad and back to the real world!

We recently discovered the BEST interactive iPad game EVER. Seriously. It includes the iPad, but also game pieces to bridge “the real and digital realms for unlimited possibilities of play.” I may have gotten it to review, but I’d be purchasing it in a second anyway. Let’s play Osmo!

Play Osmo

Osmo currently includes 3 games that offer never-ending imaginative game play. You get a base stand for the iPad, the reflective piece that sits on top to create your play area, and pieces for the “Words” and “Tangram” games.

It’s really easy to get started. The iPad just sits in the base and the reflector just slides on the top. Then you go to the Osmo website that has easy links to the app store to download the included games (for free).

Play Osmo

My kids play with Osmo together. That is rare, but they’re both so into it that there’s no time to fight 😉 We started with my favorite, Tangram! You’ve probably played with Tangrams before–the mix of shapes you use to create images.

Play Osmo

We started with the basic intro to tangrams on Osmo. It shows the images to create on the screen and below that it’s explaining you need to recreate that image with your physical tangram pieces in the play area below the iPad (the area that’s “seen” by the reflector).

I was really impressed with how well the reflector works! It’s not super picky about the location of your pieces, as long as you’re playing in front of the iPad (where you’d play naturally), it identifies the shapes quickly! Ryan even made a square with 2 triangles of the same size, but the colors were switched and Osmo knew… it didn’t move on until he flipped the colors.

Play Osmo tangrams

Then we moved on to “Words.” You can select a “Junior” reading level where it fills in some of the letters for you and you have to fill in the blanks or you can play free play or against another player. There are red and blue letters so if you’re playing against someone else, Osmo keeps track of score by the color of letters used!

Play Osmo words

You get a few chances to use the wrong letter. In the photo above, I thought maybe the word was “barn.” We tried a “B” and it was wrong. Ryan said “it’s a farm, mom!” and of course he was right! He is at the PERFECT age for this as he’s learning to read and spell so I’m really excited about this!

He asks for my help a lot, but I’m encouraging him to continue sounding out the words slowly and guessing at what comes next. I separated the vowels as a tip to help him try one of those when he wasn’t sure on the sound.

Play Osmo words

You can select levels of difficulty and Ryan was playing on “easy.” The photo above was one of the harder ones on this level because it was two words. You can see the little circles at the top where your incorrect guesses go—if you fill them all before spelling the word, your turn is over. Your points show on the side and if you’re playing against someone else, their points would show on the right side.

Play Osmo Newton

The third game for Osmo is “Newton,” a super creative and free play kinda game. You don’t need any specific game pieces, just your own creativity and things around your home! This game is totally Ryan’s kinda game–he tries to find games like this to download on the iPad, but NONE are as COOL as this. The goal is to guide a falling ball into a targeted zone. Add objects into the play zone to help get the ball where it needs to go! SO COOL. Can I say that again? It’s REALLY COOL.

Now, it’s YOUR TURN to play Osmo! I cranked up the difficulty in the “Words” game to impossible. I started it off with two letters for you, now see if you can finish and guess the word for the image below! Good luck 😉 Leave a comment with your guess (but don’t read them from others)!

Play Osmo

Buy Osmo for $79.99  with free shipping. Order TODAY for arrival by Christmas!!! Otherwise it will ship by Dec. 30th. It is a great game for kids and the entire family to play together! It’s educational, loads of fun, interactive, encourages creativity, and I can’t say enough how awesome it is. Find Osmo on Facebook and Twitter, too!

Play Osmo

~Written in partnership with Osmo. Any opinions are my own!

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