The aim is to study how literate tools come into play between children and  teachers in the activity of “playing shop”. The project as wholeness is published in the open access book: Play-Responsive Teaching in Early Childhood Education On an overall level the research project took starting point in Development Pedagogy (Pramling & Pramling Samuelsson, 2011) but developed into what now is labelled play-responsive teaching – a theoretical approach contributing to the notion of teaching and didactics in preschool. In the present study concepts are treated ‘as if’ (fiction) and ‘as are’ (facts) which are characteristic of play-responsive teaching. The study is a case study with focus on written language tools and how these are communicated in play, as well as how these are appropriated and become part of the development of the paradigm for the whole research project. The interactive analysis establishes a comprehensible narrative built on four video recordings. Data consist of video observations of recurrent play with a teacher in a preschool (4-5 years). The study follows the Swedish Research Council's guidelines (2017) for good research practice regarding information, consent, confidentiality and use. The children's guardians have given their consent. The results show: (i) which written language tools (concepts, distinctions) are introduced and actualized in the play and (ii) how these are appropriated and given significance for the continuation of the play. The aspect of writing that becomes particularly clear is the communicative functions of symbols. How play and learning can be related in practice.