Braille Blocks for Blind Children
Braille Blocks were one of my blind daughter's favorite toys!
Santa brought my daughter a set of Uncle Goose's Braille Blocks when she was a year old. Since she has been blind from birth, we knew that she would one day be a braille reader. We wanted to get her on a path to literacy as soon as we could by exposing her to braille in her environment.
As soon as she received the blocks, our baby loved feeling the various textures on them. They are just the right size for little hands to practice picking up, so this helped her fine motor development as well. We practiced picking them up and putting them into a bucket, then dumping them out. This is an important skill for many future activities!
Our little daughter was soon tracing the shapes of the print letters, which are carved into the blocks. Her teacher explained to us how the isolation of the index finger was very important to her development. She also loved to run her finger tips over the braille, as well as feeling the bumps with her tongue. All babies love to explore with their mouths, and blind babies seem to do this even more than sighted children do.
Of course, we also used the blocks to practice stacking, building towers and knocking them over. What fun! Then we used them for learning to count. These blocks sure did turn out to be a great investment in my child's development! I really did not expect her to learn as much as she did. I thought they would be a fun toy and help her learn braille. But they did so much more than that!
One more unexpected outcome of these blocks was that as she learned the braille alphabet, she also learned the print alphabet. There the letter shapes were right next to the braille! I cannot tell you what a valuable skill this is! Now that she is a teenager, she can read raised print wherever she goes. This is has come in handy many times!
I highly recommend these braille blocks for any blind or visually impaired child. They will learn so much from them! They really are a wonderful investment that you will treasure and save for your grandchildren.
Other Braille Toys my daughter liked
If you are looking for more toys to enhance your child's braille literacy, here are some others that my daughter liked when she was little.
Do you know a blind child?
Learn More About Pre-Braille Literacy!
Want to learn more about pre-braille literacy skills your blind child needs and how you can help her develop them? Here are some videos to get you started!
Helping your child learn to read braille is an exciting journey you can both enjoy together!
Do you have any tips for helping blind children learn to read braille? Or any toy recommendations for visually impaired preschoolers?
I love to hear your thoughts, suggestions and ideas! Please let me hear from you!
© 2013 Frischy
