Lego is to begin selling bricks coded with braille to help blind and partially sighted children learn to read the touch-based alphabet.
The Danish toymaker has been providing the specialist bricks, which were tested and developed in partnership with blind organisations around the world, free of charge to a selection of schools and services catering for vision-impaired children since 2020.
From next month, shoppers will be able to buy packs of the bricks, which have studs corresponding to the braille version of numbers and letters with a printed version of the symbol or letter below, to use at home.
Lego hopes the initiative will help parents and siblings share in learning braille, and the packs will include ideas for a range of educational games that families can play together.
While some view braille as old-fashioned, given modern technology that can turn written text into spoken word, blind adults say they like the freedom to multitask by reading with their fingers while listening to other things.
The European Blind Union (EBU) says knowledge of braille leads to improved spelling, reading and writing, contributing to higher levels of education and better employment opportunities for those who are vision impaired.
Dave Williams, an inclusive design ambassador for the RNIB, which acts for blind and partially sighted people, said knowledge of braille helped give those who could not read print independence.
“Who would want a greetings card read to you? And there are things like board games, labels and being able to read your kids a bedtime story – that’s hard to do with a computer talking in your ear,” he said.
Williams said software could now convert text from laptops and smartphones into the correct braille code via raised pins.
He said learning braille via Lego made the process less slow and dull, while using a toy “that everybody recognises means it doesn’t feel weird. It breaks down barriers.”
Lisa Taylor, mum to seven-year-old Olivia, said: “Olivia first discovered Lego braille bricks at school and they had such a big impact on her curiosity for braille. Before then, she found it hard to get started with the symbols but now she’s improving all the time.”
Olivia, who lost her sight due to a brain tumour at the age of 17 months, said: “I can play with my sister. I like writing, building and playing games.”
Taylor said the bricks were easy to use and Olivia’s grandmother was now starting to learn braille alongside Taylor herself, her husband and their four-year-old sighted daughter, Imogen.
The family, who live in south-east London, are able to leave each other braille “notes” using bricks laid out on Lego boards without having to resort to the more clunky braille writing machine they currently borrow from school, and they can help Olivia with her homework more easily.
“To have a set at home changes everything. We can play with braille together as a family and she can introduce braille to her little sister in a way they both love. Lego braille bricks are accessible for her without being really different for other kids, so she gets to play and learn just like every other child,” Taylor said.
The packs aimed at children aged six and over will be available to buy in six English-speaking countries including the UK, Ireland, the US and Australia, and five French-speaking countries including Belgium, Canada and Switzerland. Italian, German and Spanish versions are expected to launch next year.
Each pack, which will cost £79.99 in the UK and be sold online, includes 287 bricks in five colours – white, yellow, green, red and blue. All bricks are fully compatible with other Lego kit.
Lego says the move is part of efforts to make its products more inclusive.
Rasmus Løgstrup, the Lego Group lead designer on braille bricks, said the company had been “inundated with thousands of requests to make [the bricks] more widely available”.
He said: “We know this is a strong platform for social inclusion and can’t wait to see families get creative and have fun playing with braille together.”
