“We wanted to make something that was fun for families”

For many, playing with Lego is an opportunity to spend time with family or friends in creative invention and construction.

Now, Lego bricks can also help families to discover the world of braille together as, for the first time, Lego Group has introduced its Lego braille bricks as a kit that can be purchased for home use.

Rasmus Løgstrup, creative lead for Lego Braille Bricks, described Lego Braille Bricks – Play with Braille as “a little nice introduction to how to start playing with braille.”

Lego Braille Bricks were originally created by the Lego Foundation and were only available within educational settings as a playful way for children with visual impairment to learn the braille system.

Løgstrup told OT: “I haven’t been on a project where so many people asked: ‘when will this be available?’”

He shared that previously, children might play with the Lego braille bricks at school, but as they weren’t available for purchase, the families didn’t have access to the toys at home.

“That is what we have made possible and available, so people can experience this at home,” Løgstrup shared.

LEGO Group

The kits are designed to be played with at home

Building on the braille bricks concept

The kits consist of 289 braille bricks representing the alphabet and numbers and which are built on the Lego system, so the bricks fit with other Lego products.

There was much to consider when taking the braille brick concept and applying it to a commercial product, including ensuring the packaging and activities were accessible.

Ensuring that braille bricks were playful was one of the most important aspects of the process, Løgstrup emphasised: “Braille should be something that you could play with at home, and it should not end up as an educational piece.”

“We wanted to make something that was fun for families – something that they will keep,” he added.

Alongside the physical kits, families can access six online activities which provide an introduction to braille.

“We call it ‘pre-braille,’ so it has nothing to do with learning numbers or letters, it is simply something that the family can have fun with together, and start learning how to use braille bricks,” Løgstrup explained.

One of the activities, for example, is to use the bricks to build a wall around a ‘giant’ to protect a peaceful village.

I have a wish that this will create some really great family moments

Sharing braille with families

“We get a lot of interesting feedback in talking to different families and organisations, both children and adults,” Løgstrup said. “It stands out what a difference this makes for families out there.”

The brick kits provide visually impaired and blind children and adults the opportunity to share braille with their sighted friends and family.

Diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, Dr Amit Patel, a blind father of two, motivational speaker and disability rights campaigner, has experienced the kits and said: “The thing with Lego braille bricks is that they are colourful, they look like Lego bricks, they work like Lego bricks, and yet through play they learn and pick up the little dots.”

Løgstrup concluded: "I have a wish that this will create some really great family moments, because it’s not only for the child. I really hope that we have made a product where everybody in the family can have fun together and enjoy the new Lego braille set.”

LEGO Group

The packaging features braille and high-contrast colours