The Osmo app, created by Tangible Play, seeks to mix real life objects and play with gameplay. By using a stand and a unique reflective camera, Osmo allows children to play in a slightly more productive way than usual.

Osmo is one of those apps that you actually won’t mind your kids playing for hours on end. Instead of worrying about them being divorced from reality and locking themselves away from the world, you can embrace technology and all the things it can teach your children.

The premise behind Osmo is deceptively simple. First, clip the plastic mirror onto the iPad’s front camera. Then use the stand to keep the tablet upright so it can be used for play. Then simply launch the app and choose a game.

The mirror reflects the camera down 90 degrees and turns the area in front of the tablet into a game board. Depending on what game is being played, pieces for the game can be placed in front of the tablet, captured by the camera and represented on screen.

Osmo comes with three games and the hardware to play them. The first game is Words. This game is played against others. An image appears on screen with tiles underneath representing the letters used to describe that image hangman-style. Players take it in turns to throw a plastic letter onto the game board to fill a tile until someone wins.

Tangram, the second game, is a geometric puzzle using seven wooden pieces of different colours and shapes. The app displays a pattern that you have to create using those seven pieces. The third game, Newton, requires pen and paper. The app displays a ball at the top of the screen and the player has to draw something on the piece of paper to make that ball bounce in a particular way once dropped. Objects can also be placed on the paper which will be rendered quite accurately using the app.

Osmo is a great piece of design and engineering. The mirror and stand are sturdy, the games well thought-out and the entire premise is good. However, it’s quite expensive and isn’t yet in production. Once it is and once that price has come down a bit, Osmo is going to be well worth a look.

Jesmond Darmanin is a technology enthusiast who has his own blog at www.itnewsblog.com.