Braille Card Games
Learning Braille letters can be fun and exciting. All you need is a little imagination. In this post we show you how we transformed free airline cards into braille cards and how we set up the Postman Game. We also gave you another 3 games that you can play using these cards. So what are you waiting for? Let’s start learning and teaching braille today!
If your kid has just enough vision to make him try to see the braille, try to braille his alphabets or words onto coloured cards. This card was free from Turkish Airlines. The busy patterns work well to help disguise the braille. Cut a corner so that he knows which side is up.
Tip: I started with only 2 alphabets, the ‘A’ and ‘G’ as they felt totally different. I braillled about 10 cards of these letters. Once he was able to identify it, I added another 2 alphabets. We haven’t learnt all of our braille letters yet but we’re getting there, In sha Allah (God Willing)!
Here are some games that we play using these cards.
Game 1: Postman
We made a simple postman hat for fun before we started this game.
Hisham is wearing a mailman hat that we made. It is a band of paper with a white rectangle drawn to look like an envelope, attached to it. The words mailman are written on it.
Hisham is putting typing braille letters onto his box labels.
2. We have 3 boxes to be used for the 3 letters that we will be learning today. Hisham is ‘brailling’ the mailbox labels with those letters himself.
Tip: Getting your child involved with the setting up of the game is not only fun. It also gives them a sense of satisfaction and pride at being able to make a game.
Hisham is taping the letter cards to a box.
3. He tapes it to the boxes after I had written the lettering in large print. Because he has some vision, he’s learning both print and braille.
Tip: Using tape helps with their fine motor skills. You should allow and encourage your child to do this task even if it takes longer as it helps strengthen their fine motor skills and will help them for other tasks that require finger dexterity.
Hisham is putting all the Brailled cards into a bag to carry.
4. He puts all the brailled cards into the bag and is ready to post it to the labelled mailbox.
Tip: You can explain that a postman has many mail to deliver and usually has a bag or box to help carry it all. There are also some mailman that deliver mail on a motorcycle or van. You can take the opportunity to ask him what his mailman uses to send them mail and keep a lookout to when the mailman arrives.
Hisham is reading the braille on the card.
5. He reads the braille card and puts it in the right mailbox. Good job Hisham!
Tip: Give praise for a job done correctly. If he gets it wrong, words like, ‘Let’s try again’ can give him a nudge to get it right.
Game 2:
Take turns reading the braille cards. Whoever gets it right, gets to keep the card and continue reading the next one. Play till all cards are finished. The one with the most number of cards wins the game. We play this game with his sighted brothers and sisters and everyone learns braille together.
Game 3:
Memory game. Just as with the standard memory game, cards are turned down and paired in turns. Winner is the one with the most number of cards.
Game 4:
Hisham made a mailbox with his blocks then read the letter on the card before mailing it to me. You can also mail the card back to him and ask him who it’s for.
Hisham is mailing a letter through a lego mailbox.
There’s many ways to make learning Braille fun and engaging. Let us know if you have your own game!
