Menu
We have learning about a famous person from the past.
Louis Braille was born in 1809 in France. He lived with his family on a farm and he was a very happy boy. When he was three he had a bad accident in his father's workshop. He injured his eye with a sharp tool and he went blind. Louis had to learn to live in this new, dark world. His parents sent him to a school for blind boys at the age of 10 years.
Louis was very clever and he learned to read the few special books at the school. They were very big with raised dots and it took a long time to feel and read a word. Louis wanted to find a quicker and easier way for the blind to read.
He invented Braille - a system that used only six raised dots, like the dots on a domino. By running your finger gently across the dots you could 'read' the letters. His friends quickly learnt the new method. Louis spent the rest of his life teaching. He tried hard to make other people use his Braille system of reading and writing.
Louis died at the age of forty three and two years after his death, Louis' system of reading and writing was at last accepted and its use spread to other countries.
Our task today: Paint a picture of a house blindfolded.
The children encountered lots of problems as predicted:
- could not work out where to begin painting
- could not see the colours
- had difficulty locating the paint pallette
- mixed the colours together
- could not paint an outline of the house
- could not find the water pot to clean the brush
Result: We ended up with a messy picture, messy paint pallettes and fingers covered in paint.
We agreed that life as a blind person would be very difficult.
