From classroom to playroom: LEGO® Braille Bricks now widely available for Nordic, Dutch and Portuguese speaking fans!
The award-winning LEGO® Braille Bricks – Play with Braille set is now available in six new language versions through top-up pack solutions at LEGO.com/pick-a-brick.
- With both braille and printed letters, numbers and symbols on each brick, and games designed for all ages, the ‘LEGO Braille Bricks – Play with Braille’ set makes learning braille more fun and accessible to everyone.
- By adding top-up packs to existing sets, fans are now able to try out LEGO Braille Bricks in Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch and Portuguese.
- The Pick A Brick initiative marks another milestone in bringing LEGO Braille Bricks and inclusive learning through play experiences to more families.
Billund – June 4th, 2024: The LEGO Group today announced a special top-up package solution to its LEGO Braille Bricks – Play with Braille set, which will bring the total number of alphabets supported to eleven. Until now, the product has been available exclusively in English, Spanish, German, Italian and French. By adding top-up packs to existing English and Spanish sets, this unique tactile experience becomes accessible for Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch and Portuguese speaking families. The set is aimed at kids aged 6+ and designed so that anyone who is curious about braille, be they blind, partially-sighted or sighted, can have fun getting to know the braille system at home with their family in a playful, inclusive way.
Until September 2023, LEGO Braille Bricks had only been distributed free of charge by the LEGO Foundation to organizations* specializing in the education of children with vision impairment. Since the launch of these educational kits in 2020, feedback from parents, carers, grandparents, children, and educators has continually highlighted the positive impact the bricks have and how they transform the way children with vision impairment can learn braille. Requests to make the bricks more publicly available then led to the creation of LEGO Braille Bricks - Play with Braille, to give families the opportunity to enjoy the benefits and practice their tactile skills at home.
English and French alphabet versions launched in September 2023 with Italian, Spanish and German alphabet versions following in January 2024. The launch received overwhelmingly positive response and has since been recognized as a TIME Best Invention 2023 and was recently honored Accessible Product of the Year by SCOPE Disability Equality Awards 2024.
How it works
Users will need to combine a full LEGO Braille Bricks – Play with Braille set alongside one of the top-up packs to complete one of the six new alphabets.
The LEGO® Braille Bricks – Play with Braille set includes 287 bricks in five colours: white, yellow, green, red and blue. All bricks are fully compatible with other LEGO products and the studs on each brick are arranged to correspond to the numbers and letters in the braille system, with the printed version of the symbol or letter situated below the studs. The set also includes two baseplates to build on and comes in packaging with braille embossing.
The top-up packages are pre-selected LEGO Braille Bricks featuring special characters from the additional alphabets. Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Dutch top-up packs are compatible with the English LEGO Braille Bricks set while the Portuguese top-up pack is compatible with the Spanish set. An element guide helps users combine the top-up packs and LEGO Braille Bricks sets for optimal play value; this includes removing some of the existing bricks and exchanging them with the new elements.
To enhance the play experience and support pre-braille skill development, a series of supporting play starters is available on LEGO.com and will teach players how to orient, attach and stack the bricks through well-loved games such as Rock, Paper, Scissors, which all members of the family can take part in.
Rasmus Løgstrup, LEGO Group Lead Designer on LEGO Braille Bricks said:
“Play has the power to change lives. When children play, they learn vital skills, so we were thrilled by the reception that LEGO Braille Bricks received in educational settings and the thousands of requests to make them broadly available meant we just had to make it happen!
It’s been a fantastic journey collaborating with children, families and experts from around the world to develop the product and online activities. Our partners have been instrumental also in advising on what colourways should be used for the bricks, product packaging and digital experiences to ensure this is optimised for individuals who experience low vision and vision loss. 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.”
LEGO Braille Bricks – Play with Braille set is priced at 89.99 EUR / 89.99 USD and available for purchase at LEGO.com/braille-bricks while the six top-up packs are available for purchase on LEGO.com/pick-a-brick priced at: NO: 73,40 NKK / 6,20 EUR, SE: 109,48 SKK / 8,68 EUR, DK: 48,60 DKK / 6,20 EUR, FI: 4,96 EUR, PT: 9,92 EUR and NL: 2,48 EUR.
Notes to Editors
For more information, please contact media@LEGO.com
Note:
*LEGO Braille Bricks as a concept has been tested and developed in close collaboration with partnering blind organisations from around the world.
The LEGO Foundation will continue to carry out research and distribute LEGO Braille Bricks educational kits free of charge through partnering national blindness associations and other partnering organisations. The LEGO Foundation supports children under the age of 18.
(40656) LEGO® Braille Bricks Play with Braille – English version availability:
- 89.99 EUR / 89.99 USD
(40724) LEGO® Braille Bricks - Play with Braille – Spanish Alphabet availability:
- 89.99 EUR / 89.99 USD
LEGO® Braille Bricks - Play with Braille – Top-up Pack availability:
About the LEGO Group
The LEGO Group’s mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through the power of play. The LEGO System in Play, with its foundation in LEGO bricks, allows children and fans to build and rebuild anything they can imagine.
The LEGO Group was founded in Billund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, its name derived from the two Danish words Leg Godt, which mean “Play Well”.
Today, the LEGO Group remains a family-owned company headquartered in Billund. Its products are now sold in more than 120 countries worldwide. For more information: www.LEGO.com
About the LEGO Foundation
The LEGO Foundation aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, a mission that it shares with the LEGO Group. The LEGO Foundation is dedicated to building a future where learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. Its work is about re-defining play and re-imagining learning. In collaboration with thought leaders, influencers, educators and parents, the LEGO Foundation aims to equip, inspire and activate champions for play. www.learningthroughplay.com.