Abstract
Play as an anthropological constant of human beings is closely linked to children’s acquisition of language and literature, in which playing with language and with possible worlds is of central importance (Andresen, 2013; Bruner 1986). Wordless picturebooks can be used in all languages and encourage language play and imaginative play in particular. In the context of primary education, shared reception situations in classroom interactions offer opportunities for the playful appropriation of stories. This article focuses on picturebook discussions from the study IMAGO. Picturebooks – multilingual, rhyming and wordless – in kindergartens and primary schools in South Tyrol (Hoffmann, 2024a; 2024b) about the wordless picturebook Field Trip to the Moon (Hare, 2019b). It shows how wordless picturebooks are playfully appropriated in dialogic reception situations in Italian- and German-speaking primary schools in the multilingual province of South Tyrol. By analysing transcribed key incidents, this contribution investigates how wordless picturebooks invite children to engage in language play and imaginative play, and which forms of play can be reconstructed in the picturebook discussions. It is shown that even with different didactic approaches, common patterns of play can be found across languages, which highlight the diverse opportunities and ways of playing with language and possible worlds.