The latest learning app from OSMO’s “Math Wizard” range lives up to its name by being “Fantastic”.
The Math Wizard Fantastic Food Truck is the latest educational tool to work with your iPad and the OSMO dock to help kids learn about geometry by using food to make the journey fun.
The kids and I love to sit down most mornings and watch Sesame Street on ABC kids. I often see real engagement from them when Cookie Monster and Gonger show up in their “Monster Foodies” van to make a delicious and healthy meal for some of the children that have sent in requests. Throughout the segment, you also learn about where the food comes from.
So when I saw that this new app was available through OSMO it seemed like a great idea to add to their love of the food truck on that show with a different food truck that is also a great learning tool.
In “Fantastic Food Truck” players become chefs who need to help Chef Betty and her assistant Reina to start a food truck business. From here you customise dishes using the available kitchen appliances. During play, new customers appear with different requests. So it’s up to the kids to complete the orders while at the same time learning how to recognise shapes and even draw them. The kids don’t even realise they are learning, it’s just a super fun game.
Your child will learn to compose 2D shapes, identify the properties of 2D shapes, partition shapes into equal shares and develop spatial reasoning.
Included in the box is a playmat, the food truck manual, 34 geometric shapes and of course instructions on how to load the app onto your device to get into play. The box does not include the Osmo base (sold separately) or tablet.
The way it works is pretty amazing. Once the tablet is locked into the Osmo base and you have your mat placed directly in front of it. You play the app and it comes to life-giving instruction and interacting with the changes that the children as they put shapes on the play mat. It’s this type of interactive play experience that really helps young minds engage with the device in a positive screen time experience.
The STEM product is intended for kids aged 6-8 years (grades 1 & 2), but I found my much younger kids also enjoyed it as I played along with them. The story is very bright, colourful and engaging. Although they needed some assistance I found it to be a fun family game time where we all laughed and had a great time.
It’s important to note that we didn’t just jump in at this level and start playing Fantastic Food Truck. The kids had had previous experience learning the way the product functioned with apps closer to their age group. Starting with the pre-school kit worked well for us, plus it comes with the base that you’ll need to play future titles.
There are plenty of other products in the Maths Wizard range that focus on Addition and Subtraction, Measurements, Multiplication and Mathematical Thinking. Each of these is at that 6-8 age group.
Math Wizard Fantastic Food Truck is the type of really fun and engaging product we’ve come to expect from an award-winning brand like OSMO. The characters are fun, friendly and very well animated. It’s a great way to let your kids get some positive screen time as a STEAM learning experience even if the kids are a bit younger. But I also recommend starting them off on either the Preschool or Genius kits.
In a world-first, a Twitch streamer has wired up a fully functioning Case IH Magnum 310 tractor, weighing close to ten tonnes, to use as a controller to play the new Farming Simulator 22.
Rudeism (Dylan Beck) is known previously for converting all manner of objects to use as controllers in popular videogames, including a baguette, a pomegranate and even a microwave, Beck has lent his custom controller expertise to this world-first attempt at using a “Tractroller” to play Farming Simulator 22.
Catch his stream 1700-1900 AEDT Monday 29 November Sitting inside the tractor’s cab, on a working farm outside of Dalfield on the South Island of NZ.
The Case IH tractor Beck is using to play the game is a new addition to Farming Simulator’s roster of over 100 authentic brands and over 400 genuine farming machines. By attaching a few wires here, a few buttons there, the Case IH Magnum 310 is now a fully-functioning game controller.
Beck says: “Working on building a tractoller has been an absolute dream of mine ever since I turned my old Honda into a controller to play a racing game years ago. My controller builds have been getting bigger and crazier over the years, and for increasingly intense games, so I’m thankful a relaxing game like Farming Simulator exists to help balance things out.”
Farming Simulator 22 just launched and is created by Swiss publisher and developer GIANTS Software with an eye on creating the most realistic farming simulation possible. Beginning in 2008, Farming Simulator now boasts a massive global following of dedicated gamers and farmers alike, a global convention and even an Esports league.
Players of Farming Simulator 22 will enjoy a huge variety of farming operations focusing on agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry. Real machines from Case IH, CLAAS, DEUTZ-FAHR, Fendt, John Deere, Massey Ferguson, New Holland, Valtra and many others are playable in-game across three diverse American and European environments. The exciting addition of seasonal cycles and production chains in Farming Simulator 22 combine to offer the most realistic farming experience players can enjoy from their own living room.
Farming Simulator 22 is available now for PlayStation®5
If there is one thing the gaming community in Australia is great at, it's banding together to support a good cause.
During December we'll see some of the most popular gaming content creators joining forces to fight cancer, one game at a time.
Over the 25 days of festive fundraising, people can tune into live streams from their favourite creators and donate to be in the running to win exclusive swag and the latest game releases. Streamers can sign up to fundraise and level up their XP to earn exclusive Game On Cancer™ merch. The aim is to raise $100k to fund vital cancer research.
Cure Cancer is calling all Aussie streamers to get involved with their Holiday Spectacular. All they need to do is host a charity stream on their channels and then engage their audience to raise funds. Streamers just need to go to Tiltify to sign up and get involved. Unlock XP points for every dollar raised to level up to exclusive MVP merch - it’s a win/win for everyone.
(Image: Cure Cancer team members Morgan and Shane on the Back Pocket set)
Some confirmed highlights to date include a series of live-streamed D&D one-shot adventures based on your favourite Christmas films and an esports tournament in partnership with Esports Media House, esports events specialists, featuring some special guest players.
To date, Game On Cancer™ with Cure Cancer has raised over $350,000 for Cancer Research, which is enough to fund 4666 hours of research. Previous fundraisers have included some of Australia’s largest names in gaming like Loserfruit, Drewdog and Aussie Antics.
Cure Cancer is dedicated entirely to funding early career researchers and to date has provided over 534 research grants to young researchers with ground-breaking innovative ideas, many of who have gone on to become leaders in cancer research globally.
The $100k target for the Holiday Spectacular will fund an early career researcher for a year.
Game On Cancer™’s Holiday Spectacular has already recruited hilarious, gaming community channel, Back Pocket - as ambassadors for the campaign.
(Image: The team from Back Pocket)
The talented team of Nich "Nichboy" Richardson, Peter "Pierreth" Burns, Gus "TheDoctorofWho" Ronald and Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen were previously involved with ABC TVs Good Game and Channel 7's ScreenPLAY and now host some of the most hilarious variety show gaming content on Twitch and other platforms.
(Trust me, it's worth a watch and even a subscribe.)
Viewers can get involved by following Cure Cancer on Twitter, joining them on Discord, tagging their favourite gamers that they would like to see involved and finally, and most importantly, watching a stream and donating.
So, gather your squad and get involved. You’ll be doing something you love and saving lives at the same time.
For all the details visit Game On Cancer
It’s that time of year again when the Black Friday sales happen and are usually followed by some equally important Cyber Monday deals. If you are a gamer or looking to get into streaming your video game content this is the best time of year to upgrade your system or even look at some game titles you might have missed while they were at full price.
If you have been following the Metaverse announcements you might be keen to get into VR and Black Friday might be the time to do it with Oculus Quest 2 deals like Amazon’s $100 Promo credit with any Oculus purchase.
That gives you a bit of credit to go spend on some accessories like the pro head strap with a battery that will let you play longer and be more comfortable.
Sony may not have any PS5s in stock but there’s no shortage of controllers with even the new cosmic red DualSense controller on Black Friday Sale between $79 and $89 (around 28%)
It’s also a great time of year to grab the gaming subscription services Playstation Plus is $53 for 12 months (33% off) and Xbox Gamepass is just always a good deal, but a good way to get a discount is if you spot any gift cards on special, buy them and then purchase your subscription with that. You’ll get a good deal and some satisfaction in knowing that you hacked the system.
Probably one of the best Sony Playstation games this year “Deathloop” is on a massive discount as well down from $99 to $38 and well worth the purchase for a solid story-driven game with some really fun time-bending experiences. We recommended this one really highly as a must-own title for the PS5.
Nintendo has joined the discount party with savings on the “lite” series of Nintendo Switch consoles in a variety of colours. You’ll save around $50 on these consoles at around $279. There’s also some nice switch games worth picking up on the cheap like Fifa 22 or $29, Super Mario Party for $59 and Zelda Skyward Sword for $57
Xbox offerings are a bit more limited this year but if you have storage issues on your console it could be worth looking into an official Seagate 2 TB storage drive solution for the discounted $107.86
Or picking up the very impressive Far Cry 6 on any system for the reduced $58. Not a bad saving on a game that has really only just been released and that might leave you with some spare cash for a bit of DLC.
New headphones for gaming can break the bank so when they go on sale it’s worth getting the best. The EPOS GSP 602 series have amazing sound and are usually $315. Black Friday has them at $125.
If you are looking to improve your overall setup for streaming then you can look at the lighting deals at Nanoleaf to add some ambience to the presentation or look for quality Microphones and stands like EPOS or Thronmaxso you can finally start that podcast you’ve been meaning to do.
There are plenty of deals happening in a variety of locations and well worth spending a bit of time searching around for something that catches your eye. These are just some of the ones we liked, but I’m sure by the time it's over our trollies will be full of a lot more items to add to our gaming rooms.
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