Thank-you to Penny, our Children’s Librarian, for this month’s blog!
Did you know that the LEGO Foundation has Braille Bricks? Neither did we! We were given a special opportunity to receive a kit through the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the foundation’s official partner in Canada.
This kit will be available for use at the Library, so anyone can enjoy using it at any time.
Lego Braille Bricks are like the regular bricks that we all know and love, but the studs have been configured to be the same as the two columns of raised dots used to create braille. There are multiples of each letter/number, as well as punctuation and math symbols so you can create words or play a matching game. The letters, numbers and symbols are printed on each corresponding brick to make learning and sharing together easy. There is also a card included that shows a picture of each brick to help identify them.
The Braille Program was designed to encourage inclusive play. With this kit, sighted and visually impaired friends and family can play together to build, play games, learn braille, create messages or have fun with math. The tactile nature of the bricks make a great introduction to braille for anyone, through play-based learning. Some of the skills you might practice are finger placement, tracking lines and letter recognition. To help you get started, we have printed some of the activities from the Lego Braille Program website. We can’t wait to see people come together to share this new resource!
To learn more about the LEGO Braille Program or find the activities mentioned above, visit their website: LEGO Braille Bricks.