This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. Find out more.

Experience the benefits of play to engage children with learning braille

Children are engaged in learning from birth – tackling problem solving, communication, collaboration, and exploration from their earliest weeks.

An often-overlooked way that children learn is through play. On this course you’ll discover the principles of learning through play, and how to apply these when teaching pre-braille and braille, using LEGO Braille Bricks.

Apply a play-based method to teaching braille skills

You’ll explore how to foster a breadth of skills in all children, recognising the value of playful facilitation in learning.

You will also discover how the LEGO Braille Bricks concept can be used in inclusive education, allowing visually impaired children to interact with classmates in a fun and interactive way.

Reflect on how to experiment and collaborate with learning

You’ll be encouraged to share learning ideas with others, and collaboratively develop further LEGO Braille Brick activities.

Get playful tips and tricks from the LEGO Foundation’s pedagogy experts, and come away confidently able to create your own braille activities and lesson plans.

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Syllabus

Week 1
Learning Through Play
- Welcome to the course
  Practitioners will discover and experiment a new fun tool and play-based method to teach braille in inclusive settings. Learn more about the team, their experience with visual impairment, braille and play!
- Introduce yourselves
  Introduce yourselves, get to know each other, feel part of the same team!
- Play Matters
  What is play and what is so special about play?
- Play Facilitation
  Discover the importance of mindset. Learn about different teaching practices and how to design activities according to audience.
- Summary
  Review Week 1
Week 2
LEGO Braille Bricks Concept
- Introduction
  Welcome to your next week, which will include a great overview of LEGO Braille Bricks concept and useful tips for becoming familiar with our user-friendly website.
- Discover the toolkit
  Let's look inside the box and discover information about the number of letters, how colours have been chosen, use of the brick separator and much more.
- Discover the pedagogical concept
  LEGO Braille Bricks are much more than just braille bricks! It is a whole pedagogical concept allowing children to learn braille and acquire essential skills in a playful way.
- Summary
  Review Week 2
Week 3
Pre-braille Intro - Manipulation
- Welcome to Week 3
  Pre-braille Manipulation: Make children discover and get used to the bricks, learn how to handle, assemble and put them on the base plate.
- Activity "Save the Turtles"
  Help children identify tactile characteristics of bricks and control motor skills, while placing the turtles back on their feet.
- Activity "Caterpillar to Butterfly"
  Learn information on how early literacy activities help visually impaired students to build strong and meaningful mental images, avoiding verbalism.
- Tips & Tricks
  Discover useful tips and tricks for sorting bricks by using drawer dividers, zipper pouches and bags.
- Summary
  Review Week 3
Week 4
Pre-braille 2 - Orientation
- Welcome to Week 4
  Pre-braille - Orientation: children learn how to position the bricks on the base plate and be aware that their orientation is important.
- Orientation - Activity 1 : "Apple Trees"
  "Apple Trees" aims to develop hand and finger strength and recognize spatial relationships. Children create an apple orchard on the base plate.
- Orientation - Activity 2 : "Find the Crazy Duck"
  "Find the Crazy Duck": children compare different orientations of bricks on a base plate, find and manipulate the crazy duck to place it back in line.
- Build a lesson plan
  Build a lesson plan allows diversification of activities, linking and building a progression of steps and variations. It is crucial to take into account each student's potential. Let's discover why and how?
- Tips & Tricks
  Discover various ways to build portable activity kits and create your own!
- Summary
  Review Week 4
Week 5
Pre-braille 3 - Constellation
- Welcome to Week 5
  Pre-braille - Constellation. Children discover the braille cell and how studs are arranged in two columns. They learn how to differentiate the studs.
- Tips & Tricks
  Learn how to use and adapt the LEGO Braille Bricks activities with tiles, use different sizes of plates, adapt for numeration, make labels, magnets, playdough
- Constellation - Activity 1 : "6-Car Parking Lot"
  Watch children build separation walls and play "6-Car Parking Lot" activity. Observe the complexity and abstraction skills involved.
- Constellation - Activity 2 : "Body Braille Twister"
  Watch "Body Braille Twister", a physical activity in which children learn the constellation of dots in a braille cell through the use of gross motor skills.
- Build a lesson plan
  Based on a specific object. Some objects have become iconic when learning braille. Discover how to integrate one of the most famous ones in a lesson plan.
- Summary
  Review Week 5
Week 6
Braille Intro - Characters
- Welcome to Week 6
  Braille - Characters. Let's dive into more activities and discover the three braille categories: characters, literacy and numeracy and what "teaching braille" means.
- Characters - Activity 1 : "Musical Letters"
  Playing this braille character activity, children will not only read letters on a brick, they will develop their tracking skills. Watch them!
- Tips & Tricks
  Build an alphabetical base plate and use it as a quick access to specific bricks.
- Characters - Activity 2: "The Bull Pen"
  Multiple step activity aiming to read numbers and understand the concept of perimeter, while developing good strategic skills.
- Build a lesson plan
  Based on pre-requisites: take into account where the children are in the learning process (braille, tactile, manipulation, cognitive skills).
- Summary
  Review Week 6
Week 7
Braille 2 - Literacy
- Welcome to Week 7
  Discover LEGO Braille Bricks Literacy activities which allow your students to assemble characters brick by brick, play with words and develop the ability to read and write.
- Build a specific lesson plan
  Lesson plan development is useful when working on a specific skill. A unique skill can be worked differently in various activities!
- Literacy - Activity 1 : "Words and Space"
  "Words and Space" aims to develop the concept of leaving spaces between words through identification and separation of words. Discover how five holistic skills are worked in a single activity!
- Literacy - Activity 2 : "Hidden Words"
  "Hidden words" is not just about writing or reading words. Like all braille literacy activities, it aims to develop language skills and develop concepts.
- Tips & Tricks
  Discover the value of using mini-figures and how to connect bricks.
- Summary
  Review week 7
Week 8
Braille 3 - Numeracy
- Welcome to Week 8
  Braille - Numeracy: designed to help your students play with and understand braille numbers, this week’s purpose is to increase numeracy skills.
- Numeracy - Activity 1 : "Battle"
  This numeracy activity allows identification relative to the value of a number brick and comparison between 2 bricks to determine numerical value and rank.
- Numeracy - Activity 2 : "Perfect Ten"
  "Perfect 10" is a memory game allowing players to develop tactile reading skills, and improve memory, observation and addition skills.
- Tips & Tricks
  Make you own braille bricks for foreign languages, contractions, mathematical symbols and music signs.
- Build a long-term lesson plan
  Integrate other activities using LEGO Braille Bricks and build a long-term lesson plan.
- Summary
  Review all weeks

Who is this accredited by?

The CPD Certification Service:

The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading independent CPD accreditation institution operating across industry sectors to complement the CPD policies of professional and academic bodies.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Apply a play-based method to teaching braille skills - also in an inclusive setting
Experiment and reflect on the concept according to own needs and context
Practice the principles of Learning-through-Play and playful facilitation
Create own braille activities and lesson plans

Who is the course for?

This course is primarily aimed at Teachers for the Visually Impaired (TVIs) as well as teachers, teaching assistants and other practitioners working with children who are visually impaired. Access to the LEGO Braille Bricks toolkit is an advantage, but not a prerequisite.

What software or tools do you need?

Access to the LEGO Braille Bricks toolkit is an advantage, but not a prerequisite. The toolkits are free of charge for TVIs, schools and institutions in the countries where the concept has been launched. Certain eligibility criteria apply. For more information, contact a local partner on www.LEGObraillebricks.com

Who will you learn with?

Marie Oddoux

I am occupational therapist, specialised in braille and low vision. I write books for children and inclusive methods to learn through touch. I conceived LEGO Braille Bricks pedagogical concept.

Per Havgaard

Learning Through Play Educator with license to bring joy, creativity and engagement into learning. Focused on that LTP Facilitation holds many truths that cuts across contexts, age and content.

Marc Angelier

Staunch defender of braille and author of specialized teaching methods, I travel the world training teachers in techniques specific to visual impairment to make inclusive schooling for all a reality!

Marie Oddoux

Marc Angelier

Fervent defender of braille, I travel the world to train practitioners and to make inclusive school for all a reality!
I am in charge of implementing LEGO Braille Bricks concept for the LEGO Foundation

Who developed the course?

The LEGO Foundation

The LEGO Foundation aims to build a future in which learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. Read about our different programmes, projects we support, our research agenda and more in this section.

What's included?

The LEGO Foundation are offering everyone who joins this course a free digital upgrade, so that you can experience the full benefits of studying online for free. This means that you get:

Unlimited access to this course

Includes any articles, videos, peer reviews and quizzes

A PDF Certificate of Achievement to prove your success when you’re eligible

Learning on FutureLearn

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Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
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Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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