By MADDIE MERINUK PureWow
Bravo, Lego! The toy brand just announced they'll be launching new bricks with Braille that were created to help blind and visually impaired children.
The development of these Legos has been in the works for a while. The Danish Association of the Blind first brought the concept to the Lego Foundation back in 2011, and the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind proposed the bricks six years later in 2017. With the help of these two charities, as well as the British charities Leonard Cheshire and Royal National Institute of Blind People, and the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted, the final prototype for the Braille bricks was finally able to come to life.
Here’s what we know so far: The new bricks will be totally compatible with the already existing bricks, making them easy to use for kids who have been playing with the toys for years. They will come in a set of 250 and will cover the complete Braille alphabet, plus numbers zero through nine, math symbols and other interactive, educational phrases.
“Thanks to this innovation, children with vision impairment will be able to learn braille and interact with their friends and classmates in a fun way, using play to encourage creativity while learning to read and write,” said David Clarke, the director of services at the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Only downside: The bricks aren’t expected to launch until 2020. But it’s totally worth the wait. Lego will ultimately distribute them free of charge to institutions through their partner organizations.
One small step for the blind and visually impaired, one giant leap for playtime (over a heaping tower of Legos, of course).
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