This research explored how values are communicated in everyday life at preschool. This narrative inquiry focused on how values are conveyed through the use of a material artefact, a chart with traffic lights, as a communication and pedagogical tool. Twenty children aged 3-4 years in one Finnish preschool were involved in the initial data collection, together with five practitioners. The initial research data consisted of observations and video records from activities in the preschool. On three subsequent occasions across an 18-month period, further reflective discussions were held with the same practitioners about using the traffic lights as a pedagogical tool. The findings highlighted that opposite values, like practitioners' discipline and children's right to participate, could be communicated around the same practice. Telling and retelling stories about everyday pedagogical work, such as use of the chart with traffic lights, made practitioners more aware about ethical aspects of early childhood education and also revealed something about their emotions and morality. While values statements are written into the curriculum, values in practice are constantly communicated through the social, cultural and the material environment. (author abstract)