Purpose: The purpose of this conceptual paper is to challenge the introduction and implementation of policy mandates that threaten to reduce democratic, creative and responsive literacy pedagogies and practices in the early years. It draws on affect theory as a means to expand theorisations of literacy teaching and learning with approaches that privilege children's knowledge as being central to the meaning making process. Design/methodology/approach: Thinking with ideas from the conceptual paradigm of affect theory, I consider ways in which teachers can expand their repertoire of theories and literacy pedagogies in order to understand the diverse needs of children in contemporary classrooms. Findings: Emphasising the importance of expanding how we imagine our daily pedagogies I thread reflective prompts throughout the discussion to engage the reader to consider how ideas might live in daily literacy classroom practice. Originality/value: This paper shares insights from contemporary research in affect theory to disrupt the hegemony of early literacy practices. It speaks back to the dominance of reductive models of program approaches and expands views of what counts in early literacy teaching. It considers how we can become more closely attuned to the affective relations in classroom life.