Playing with Braille: new LEGO set

Somewhat surprisingly, LEGO today released two sets in braille: LEGO 40656 Playing with Braille Alphabet in English and LEGO 40655 Playing with Braille Alphabet in French will initially be available in French and English from September 1, 2023.

Already in 2020, LEGO issued special bricks in Braille to various organizations through the LEGO Foundation, but these were not available on the open market. It is therefore gratifying that the stones are now being made accessible to a larger group of people.

It is appropriate that next October is World Blind Awareness Month, with a special focus on the needs and problems of blind people. Martine Abel-Williamson, president of the World Blind Union, says: “For blind and visually impaired children, and adults too, it makes a big difference when they can share their journey of learning Braille with the people they love most. For the blind community, Braille is not just literacy, it is our access to independence and inclusion in this world. Making LEGO Braille bricks available to the wider public is a huge step forward in ensuring more children around the world want to learn Braille. first place. And because it's based on a product that so many families already know and love, this is truly an invitation for all family members to have fun developing tactile skills and becoming familiar with Braille using the same tool.”

LEGO 40656 and 406555 "Playing with Braille - English/French alphabet"

Both versions of the “Play with Braille” sets contain 287 items each, and of course all numbers and letters are printed accordingly. The stones are kept simple in the basic colors blue, red, yellow, green and white and are supplemented with 2 gray base plates. The English variant has the set number 40656 while the French variant is LEGO 40655 .

• LEGO Play with Braille Set number: 40655 / 40656
• Title: Playing with Braille – French/English alphabet
• Number of parts: 287 stones
• Release date: September 1, 2023
• Recommended retail price : €89.99  

In the press release, LEGO already points out that Play with Braille will be available in other languages ​​in the coming year, so we can assume that Dutch language bricks will also be available.

Publications in Portuguese or Italian are certainly also conceivable.