Sensory Literacies in Early Childhood Education: A Multimodal Interaction Analysis of Olfaction‐Enhanced Shared Reading

ABSTRACT Reading in early childhood involves the coordination of multiple senses and modes of meaning‐making. While multimodal literacy research has examined visual, verbal and gestural interaction, the role of the sense of smell in shared reading remains largely unexplored. This study explores how young children engage bodily and emotionally during shared reading of olfaction‐enhanced digital books in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Drawing on video observations of five Norwegian children aged 4–5, the analysis employs multimodal interaction analysis to examine how gesture, gaze, talk and smell intersect during literacy participation. The findings show how olfactory cues became integrated into embodied and collaborative forms of engagement. Children's interactions included moments of curiosity, affective synchrony and sustained attention around olfactory encounters, with smell emerging in some interactions as a semiotic pivot around which sensory perception, affect and interpretation became interconnected. The study suggests that attending to olfactory modes can extend understandings of multimodal literacy by making visible the intersections between digital reading and embodied sensory participation. These insights contribute to discussions of inclusive and holistic approaches to early literacy in ECEC.