Who would have thought that the world’s most famous toy bricks could be a useful learning tool for the visually impaired and the blind? I, for one, never imagined that, but here it is, the LEGO Braille Bricks, designed specifically to enable those with visual disabilities to learn to read Braille in a way traditional Braille never could offer.
The colorful bricks look like normal LEGO bricks, except that each of them has a specific number of studs to represent Braille letters and numbers, and doing so while realigning fully compatible with the LEGO System in play.
Moreover, each brick features a printed letter or character to allow sighted teachers, students, and family members to interact with the visually impaired or blind learner on equal terms. Each set of LEGO Braille Bricks contains around 250 bricks in 5 colors, covering the full alphabet, numbers 0-9, select math symbols, plus inspiration for teaching and interactive games.
LEGO Braille Bricks are being tested in several different languages, with more languages to be added in Q3 this year. If all goes as planned, the LEGO Braille Bricks will be launched in 2020 and the kit will be distributed free of charge to select institutions through participating partner networks in the markets where it is being tested.
Well, if this isn’t the best news we heard from the Danish toymaker thus far, we don’t know what is. Skip ahead for the official video to learn more.
All images courtesy of LEGO.
