Lego Braille Bricks on sale for first time in English and French

They're shaped like normal Lego blocks, but these bricks have braille symbols on them too, which means they can be used for helping people to learn to read too

Learning should be fun. That's Lego's aim, to encourage learning through play.

And, for the first time, it's releasing Braille Bricks in English and French, for people to buy.

The bricks are designed to help blind children, or people who have difficulty seeing, learn to read letters and numbers by touch.

We all know Lego - the colourful toy bricks. But Lego Braille Bricks look a little different.

They include letters and numbers in braille, which are patterns of raised dots that you can read by touching them.

Children have been learning and playing with Lego's Braille Bricks since 2020, though it was only tested in certain schools and organisations.

The 6+ Braille Bricks were a success in schools and now families can buy them to play and learn at home

Then, thousands of people got in touch with Lego who wanted them for their own homes.

Olivia says she had the chance to learn braille through Lego at her school.

She lost her vision at young age and has been learning about the world around her through sensory touch.

Her mum Lisa said the bricks had increased her curiosity for braille.

"Lego Braille Bricks are accessible for her without being really different for other kids, so she gets to play and learn just like every other child."

Reece has been using the new Lego bricks to help teach other members of his family.

Through the new bricks he's taught his mum and sister some braille, which he says "feels good because they didn't know it before I started teaching them".

The President of the World Blind Union said: "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."

Now Lego says it will offer everyone the chance to buy its colourful bricks so children "can have fun getting to know the braille system at home".

Braille has been adapted for use in languages across the world

How does Braille work?

Braille is a system of raised dots that helps a blind person or someone with vision impairment to read.

They use their sense of touch to feel the shape of the dots, which tells them what the words or numbers are.

It is based on six dots, like the design on a domino - or like a Lego brick.

It consists of 63 symbols, made up of all the possible variations of these dots.

Braille can be used for most of the world's languages and was invented by Frenchman Louis Braille, who was born in 1806.

He lost his sight at the age of three and went on to develop the braille system at 15.

Braille uses a combination of six dots to represent different letters and symbols

Where and when can I get Lego's Braille Bricks?

The new LEGO Braille Bricks are available to buy from 1st September, or if you can't wait that long, you can pre-order them.

The toy company says using bricks that everyone "knows and loves", children aged six and over "can start getting to know the Braille system in a playful way".

There's also audio games to go alongside the bricks, like Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Next years Lego plans to bring out Braille Bricks in Italian, German and Spanish too.