Braille Word Game

This is a pedagogical toy for blind children. It is a kind of abacus that consists of three cylinders where several pieces are placed. The pieces of the toy are shaped like a nut and the letters in Latin and Braille alphabet are embossed on each of its six faces. The idea is that the piece can be manipulated by rotating it on a shaft, while the child is palpating the faces of the nut.

At the same time the child can put them in alphabetical order, forming words, grouping vowels, grouping consonants ... It is expected that there will be many pieces, although in this proposal I have only prepared the first 9 letters (from A to I).
The nuts have a dot on one side, for helping in the orientation in which they should be placed.

For the elaboration of the didactic material for visually impaired children, I have taken into account the advice of the INCI (National Institute for the Blind):

• Use of materials that DO NOT offer danger in their handling.
• Make sure that when a material is finished it does NOT have sharp corners, edges or points.
• Whenever possible use durable materials, avoid using materials that may deteriorate more quickly.
• Test the material you make or adapt before using it regularly with the child.
• Verbally describe the material while guiding the child's hands so that as the tactile information is explored, it acquires meaning. You can also do this yourself by closing your eyes.
• Promote the participation of the child with visual impairment in the elaboration of the object.

I think that the toy can help to stimulate the child and relate the shape of the letter to each Braille symbol. The product would be intended for very young children, who are just learning to read. In the end, it is a limited tool in terms of capacity, since it would not be possible to elaborate very long words, although it would be possible to play with groups of letters with a certain characteristic, such as occlusives, fricatives or sonorous letters. In addition to spelling, there are plenty of possibilities for learning about letters and their use. Support could also be dispensed with when it comes to forming long words or phrases. It is important for the child to relate the position of the dots in the rectangle, since Braille works with a 2x3 matrix. The centered position of the set of dots on each face of the hexagon and understanding what their orientation is are essential.

The last step will be to open the files to the Cura application, which is a standard laminator to transform the models to G code. Once we obtain the files, we will transfer them to a USB memory that we will insert in the 3D printer.

A blue filament print (base and support), a red filament print (nuts) and 3 white filament prints (cylinders) will be made.