By Contributing Writer, Liz de la Nuez, Chasing Liv
I recently had the chance to review Osmo’s newest game, Coding Jam. It’s a cool interactive game that basically uses characters and physical coding blocks to help kids create their own music and learn about coding.
After a very easy download (you’ll need an iPad to play) the game begins by getting the child to choose a silly "Stage Name", and after several laughs about the choices, Chase chose a pretty accurate one to his character! The program provides clear step-by-step instructions that my seven year old was able to follow, with little to no guidance. It uses coding blocks to make new songs and depending on the color of the blocks and the direction of the arrow on the coding block, the character will play a different sound on the screen. The blocks have magnets that let them snap into place.
It starts the child off with 11 practice sessions with each session building on the one before. The purpose seems to familiarize the child with the "commands" and the connection of the pieces to their character's actions. Chase was able to follow along easily, and I was grateful that the program was so kid friendly! It was so much fun that he did all 11 practices in one sitting!
Once he began the Coding Jam, he got such a thrill when he would see his character come to life from the code he was creating! He immediately understood that connection and was excited to find out what else he could make it do! The characters "jam" out to fun tunes created by your child so that was a lot of fun to experience.
He was completely engaged the entire time and we enjoyed having him explain to us the commands that he was using and the anticipated music and moves that his character would create next. It was exciting to discover everything that the program offers!
The Osmo Coding Jam ($59) is now available at playosmo.com as well as retail stores.
Thank you Osmo for providing the product for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.
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