Tinkering with OSMO

The term “tinkering” can be confusing to our patrons, who may have a narrow understanding of what we (at the Largo Public Library) imply when we discuss the act of tinkering. In our youth program, TinkerLAB, which was added to a cluster of programs geared around technology and making it accessible to patrons, tinkering is all about EXPLORING. Whether that means exploring new art mediums, learning about music, participating in sensory play, performing science experiments, or inspecting a new app on the iPAD, it is all about LEARNING (abstract and critical thinking). We recently acquired the OSMO system for our Youth Services Department iPAD to incorporate into the TinkerLAB program. It was a huge hit!
 

During this session of TinkerLAB our little patrons were given the opportunity to explore our snap circuit puzzles while they waited their turn to try out the OSMO system. The system is designed for children from between 6-12. One dad even made an online purchase of the system for his own child before the library program was through! This system offers tangram puzzles that were difficult enough to stump even our very clever Librarians (for a few minutes), word games, and drawing challenges. OSMO incorporates the physical with the abstract in a way that promotes competition, but also teamwork and peer interaction. This system represents Largo Public Library's continuous endeavors to seek opportunities to guide our young patrons through the digital age with the most current technologies on the market...as the budget allows, of course.