LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre, part of MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS, Europe’s number one and the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator, is supporting children who are blind or have low vision by introducing them to LEGO® Braille Bricks for the very first time.
The first of the LEGO Braille Bricks special events to take place at one of Merlin Entertainments’ LEGOLAND Discovery Centres took place in Melbourne, in partnership with Vision Australia, the LEGO Foundation’s official partner for the distribution of LEGO Braille Bricks in Australia. Over 20 families were welcomed to the attraction for the special event to discover the new range of LEGO bricks, which have been designed to offer blind or low vision children a first opportunity to discover braille from a young age.
Each LEGO Braille brick has raised bumps that have been modified to correspond to a letter or character of the braille alphabet. Each brick also has a printed letter or character to allow those children who are blind or have low vision to learn and play alongside sighted classmates, family members and educators.
During the event, families enjoyed playing with LEGO Braille Bricks and exploring LEGOLAND Discovery Centre’s LEGO model of Melbourne, various building zones, two rides and 4D cinema.
Merlin Entertainments Group’s COO for Midway Attractions Group, Fiona Eastwood, comments:
“We are proud that LEGOLAND Discovery Centre is supporting the launch of LEGO Braille Bricks. One of the foundations of LEGO and our LEGOLAND attractions is helping kids learn through play, so it’s amazing to see how this project is helping children who are blind or have low vision learn braille in a playful and engaging way.
At all of our attractions in Merlin, we aim to make our experiences accessible for as many people as possible and working with LEGO Braille Bricks is an excellent tool to help us take another step in achieving this. We hope to roll out events like this one at more of our LEGOLAND Discovery Centres in the future.”
Ron Hooton, CEO of Vision Australia, adds:
“We were thrilled to be able to introduce LEGO Braille Bricks to so many clients at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. Braille is vital in supporting children who are blind or have low vision to develop literacy skills, and LEGO Braille Bricks are a great way to expose children to braille at an early age.”
LEGO Braille Bricks will be provided to schools or other education institutions that have a student, or students, who are blind or have low vision and are learning braille. LEGOLAND Discovery Centre hopes to facilitate more LEGO Braille Bricks events in the future at its attractions across the globe, spanning over four continents.
