Lego has announced it will start selling Braille versions of its popular toy bricks for the first time ever.
The news comes ahead of World Blind Awareness Month in October.
The new product, LEGO Braille Bricks - Play with Braille, is aimed at kids aged six and over and has been designed so that anyone who is curious about braille - be they blind, partially-sighted or sighted - can have fun getting to know the system at home in a playful, inclusive way, Lego said in a release to Newshub.
Until now, Lego Braille Bricks have only been distributed free of charge to organisations specialising in the education of children with vision impairment. Kits have been available since 2020.
Rasmus Løgstrup, Lego group lead designer on Lego Braille Bricks, said the bricks would help foster a sense of independence.
"For blind and partially sighted children, and adults for that matter, it makes all the difference if they can share their journey of learning braille with the people they love the most. For the blind community, braille is not just literacy, it's our entry to independence and inclusion into this world, and to have Lego Braille Bricks made available for the wider public is a massive step forward to ensuring more children will want to learn braille in the first place."
Lego quoted mother-of-two Lisa Taylor, who said the bricks have had a significant impact on her eldest daughter, seven-year-old Olivia.
"To have a set at home changes everything. We can play with braille together as a family and she can introduce braille to her little sister in a way they both love and without her being really different for other kids, so she gets to play and learn just like every other child. That makes her feel included, which is so important."
The sets will include 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 bricks will go on sale from September 1, with pre-orders underway now.
