Not really tested: LEGO Braille Bricks 40655 Play with Braille - French Alphabet

Today we are talking about the LEGO set again 40655 Play with Braille - French Alphabet, a box of 287 pieces available since September 1 on the official online store at the public price of €89.99.

I am not going to claim to have "tested" this product sent by LEGO, I am not blind or visually impaired and it would be inappropriate to claim to know what this set is really worth which only pretends to offer the possibility of have fun with the family through activities based on the six-point tactile writing system that we all know as Braille.

Many people were offended by the public price of this box when it was announced and I think we need to put this product in context: the kit has already been available free of charge since 2020 for associative or educational structures which have a real project around braille and who make a reasoned request from the VOIR association mandated to ensure its distribution in France. LEGO is therefore today only making a product available to the general public that is already widely distributed free of charge elsewhere.

We must also not see this set through the usual prism of LEGO fans, who often seek to establish a ratio of content/price, pieces/price or weight/price, and keep in mind that this initiative is not based solely on on a handful of bricks and two base plates. LEGO offers many educational or fun activities associated with the use of the product on a dedicated site and the VOIR association does the same for its part with content in French which brings together 45 activity sheets.

For €90, it is therefore above all a matter of having access to a whole fun and educational ecosystem using the few bricks provided. That being said, if an individual wants to obtain this box to share with their children at home, they can now do so and exploit the inventory in more detail thanks to the associated content accessible free of charge.

For the rest, the bricks provided are simple 2x4s obviously compatible with classic LEGO bricks, with however one technical restriction: the Clutch Power (brick interlocking capacity) logically varies depending on the number of tenons present on the Braille brick concerned. I am not qualified to judge the relevance of the use of very large and equally spaced tenons to create a Braille alphabet which therefore requires a significant movement of the finger, those who practice the subject on a daily basis will certainly have an opinion on this point accurate.

The attached cardboard inventory sheet lists all the bricks supplied with an alphabet with raised tenons as on the "real" bricks and the quantity of each of these bricks is indicated in Braille just above.

I remind you for all intents and purposes that in all cases this is only a fun product which does not claim to allow advanced learning of Braille and to replace traditional teaching. LEGO describes its toy as “designed to develop the motor skills of visually impaired children and introduce braille into daily family games". The set was therefore designed to allow each user to participate in fun activities using braille on one side and colors associated with letters, numbers and available punctuation on the other.

If you think that this product could be really useful to you on a daily basis, do not go straight to the checkout complaining about the price and get closer first of the association VOIR to check if you can obtain the kit distributed free of charge, for example through the contact person of an association or school with which you are in contact. If you simply want to learn braille, this box will obviously allow you to do so at your own expense.

This box is for once not put into play, I gave the two sets that I received (French alphabet and English version) to a family where one of the young members is the direct target of the product. His smile was enough to convince me that this was the best possible use of these sets provided by LEGO.