LEGO Braille Bricks Adds Support For More Languages!

LEGO expands upon the Braille Bricks set by supporting more languages!

The LEGO Group have produced ‘add-on‘ packages to its LEGO Braille Bricks – Play with Braille set, covering 6 more languages which include Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch and Portuguese. The set is already available in English, Spanish, German, Italian and French.

For a better understanding and to learn more, watch the video below and read through the official statement.

Official details:

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, 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.