Braille Activities and Games

Back in the dark ages when I was in college, I had to come up with ways to teach Braille to kids. Here are a few ideas that I came up with.


*To practice Braille I made a Braille cell out of a small wooden board. I then drilled 6 holes into the board to put golf tees in it. I also glued a little bit of sandpaper at the top edge of the board to designate which was the top of the Braille cell.



Games:

Gone Fishing- to teach new sight words and to review old ones

Preparation- Put Braille words on Braille paper. Cut into small pieces and glue onto fish shaped cards out of poster board. Attach a paper clip to the mouth of each fish card. Have a stick and a string with a magnet tied to the end of the string to make a fishing pole. Put fish cards into a bucket (pond).

Directions- The student fishes for a fish and then reads the word on the fish. He keeps the fish he reads correctly and must throw back those missed.

Options- Let students construct as many phrases as possible from the fish cards caught. Include in the pond only words of a particular contraction type, such as alphabet word sign or dot 5 words. Ask students to identify the word in Braille and then provide the full spelling.



Braille Bingo- to develop knowledge of part word signs

Preparation- Bingo cards can be made from large Braille paper divided by rows of Braille dots into nine or twelve segments; in each segment Braille a different part word sign. To insure all markers stay in place during the repeated searching of the game, place Bingo cards on a piece of cardboard of cork and use thumb tacks for markers.

Directions- The teacher or another student reads words containing part word signs from a list or individual cards. Students examine their cards for Braille signs and mark the segment containing the sign.

Options- Prepare different sets of cards to emphasize particular contractions. One card set might include only final signs, while another might be part word signs in the initial position. Allow the winning student to be the caller for the next game. Let students cover more than one card.



Go Fish- to review Braille

Preparation- Make a set of cards with Braille on them. Be sure to clip a designated corner off on all Braille cards to identify the top of the card.

Directions- Play Go Fish using the Braille cards.




Here is a book that might give you more ideas:




Guidelines and Games for Teaching Efficient Braille Reading by Myrna R. Olson

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