When parents these days hear the old saying “The jobs of tomorrow haven’t been invented yet,” they tend to add, “so my child had better learn to code.” As software has redefined a range of industries and professions, many parents are rushing to make sure their children learn the building blocks of computer programming.
Toy and game developers have responded. One recent entry—and, for young children, one of the best—is Osmo Coding, by Tangible Play Inc. Using plastic bricks that represent computer commands, children arrange “scripts” that the iPad’s camera interprets as instructions for a cute on-screen character to act upon.
When the first Osmo kits appeared in 2015, they made a splash because they gave children a way to interact with the iPad using physical objects. One reason for the runaway success of products like Lego is that children physically manipulate the toys, a trait that early childhood education experts smile upon. Parents who feel guilty that their children stare too idly at glowing pixels can use Osmo to turn screentime into physical playtime.
From the start, Osmo’s lineup included sets of numbers, letters and the colorful Chinese geometric tiles known as tangrams. The iPad sits upright in Osmo’s base, with a red mirror attached to the iPad camera that lets the tablet look down on a play area where children manipulate pieces. (This is an iPad-exclusive product.)
In a math game, players position numbers to win exotic fish. With letters, they play a Hangman-like word guessing game. Using tangrams, they create increasingly complicated animals and other objects.
But all along, the developers of Osmo also had envisioned a coding game based on the same principles. The kit (with base and mirror for $75, sold separately for $49) includes blocks needed for basic gaming: move, jump and grab, for starters. Children string them together, add variables such as numbers and loops, then push the play button on a green brick to execute their script. On the iPad, a creature named Awbie follows these mini computer programs, navigating increasingly complicated mazes and obstacles.
Awbie started out as a robot, but the developers realized that robots tend to skew a bit masculine, so they morphed Awbie into a delightfully gender-neutral character. “Girls think it’s a girl and boys think it’s a boy,” says Pramod Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Tangible Play.
As children build out their scripts, tiles light up on screen, showing a preview of Awbie’s movements. Tweak the code, and the preview changes with it. While most pieces are straightforward, there’s a more advanced piece meant for conditional situations. For instance, if, while walking forward six squares, Awbie hits a bush before finishing, it can be instructed to jump over the obstacle.
