This chapter discusses the notion of “homescape” and the role of material homescapes showcasing visible linguistic resources in general, and games and toys more specifically, in the development of the multilingual child. This contribution offers a state of the art regarding the constitution and perception of the linguistic landscapes of infancy and the linguistic, cognitive, affective, social and identity affordances provided by them. We focus particularly on: (i) the multilingual resources of multilingual families and communities engaged with the transmission and maintenance of heritage languages (and therefore involved in multiliteracy practices); (ii) children’s, families’ and educators’ perceptions of multilingual settings and resources available at home; and (iii) their practices and agency within such settings, in order to foster children’s language awareness and literacy across languages. A review of methodologies employed to research homescapes will be critically discussed and a research agenda is outlined, in terms of both potential themes and methodologies.

The chapter begins with a review of foundational studies on how monolingual children develop emergent literacy, then moves to explore how children develop multiliteracy by learning to interpret symbols and icons in their immediate contexts. The research shows that children find ways to experience and construct meaning from their local scripts in each of their multiple languages. Studies presented in this chapter show that children can interpret symbols in several different scripts, and that they find strategies to navigate multiple languages and become competent speakers in their communities.

Through her own trajectory, as well as her daughter’s, Emmanuelle Le Pichon describes their experiences of “languages belonging” and legitimacy from France to Canada via Italy, the Netherlands and the United States. Emmanuelle Le Pichon shows her concern with categorizing and reductive terms such as foreign language or L1, L2, L3 and proposes alternative ways for a proactive celebration of diversity in the classroom.