The purpose of this paper is to make visible which language events may occur in literacy-related play activities in preschool and how multilingual and Swedish speaking preschool children are supported in these play activities. Previous research shows that preschool children have unique opportunities to develop their language and emergent literacy skills in literacy-related play activities in preschool (Nitecki & Chung, 2013; Saracho, 2004; Turnbull et al., 2009). The theoretical approach is based on Vygotsky’s social cultural theory and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory which explores emergent literacy learning and development in a social context. In this study, data, in the form of video observations, was collected from six preschool units in three cities in Sweden, with children from one to five years old. Manifest content analysis, using both deductive and inductive approaches, was performed on the transcripts. The study was carried out in accordance with the ethical principles of social sciences research (Ministry of Education and Research, 2003). Preschool staff and
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parents were personally and in writing informed about the study. The parents gave written permission for their children to be part of the data collection. The results show that mainly during play activities, children sought confirmation of language concepts, to make sense of, and understand, the concepts based on earlier experiences. The findings show six themes of events in the literacy-related play activities. This paper will contribute to better understanding the preschool staff’s presence in play events and the unique opportunities afforded to develop both multilingual and Swedish speaking children´s language.