How do you plan lessons using LEGO Braille Bricks?

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.

An introduction

The teaching materials are intended to serve as suggestions to help you get started with LEGO Braille Bricks. Each activity can be varied in the level of difficulty, according to the child’s motivation and prior level of braille knowledge. Each child is different, and it is important to work and play with the bricks relative to the child’s development stage.

The activities are divided into six categories: three in pre-braille and three in braille:

• Pre-Braille Manipulation: Discover and get used to the bricks, learn how to handle, assemble and put them on the base plate. All activities across this section can be completed with classic LEGO bricks.
• Pre-Braille Orientation: Learn how to position the bricks on the base plate and be aware that their orientation is important.
• Pre-Braille Constellation: Discover the braille cell and how studs are arranged in two columns. Learn how to differentiate the studs.
• Braille Characters: Learn braille letters, numbers, mathematic symbols and punctuation signs and know how to read and write them.
• Braille Literacy: Assemble characters brick by brick and play with words in order to develop the ability to read and write.
• Braille Numeracy: Assemble characters, play with numbers and develop the ability to do basic mathematics and geometry.

Each category proposes an equal number of activities.

Young children can start learning through play using LEGO Braille Bricks with pre-braille manipulative activities. They progress at their own pace through to the last two braille categories: literacy and numeracy.

We have chosen not to give any age indication, for any of the activities. A child who knows braille or a child who has additional issues may need to do some pre-braille activities to improve manual dexterity or tactile recognition. Children appreciate and benefit from simple warm-up activities or playing a familiar game.

Practitioners are invited to set up lesson plans by mixing activities from various categories.