Collaborative play, also known as social play and cooperative play, is a type of play that typically begins at around 2 years of age when young children are mature enough to begin taking turns with playmates, sharing playthings, following rules, and negotiating with others — for instance, offering a playmate their Superman toy for their playmate’s Winnie the Pooh toy.

The characteristics of collaborative play aren’t just niceties but those behaviors that show when a child is beginning to realize they aren’t the only person in the world.

This type of play teaches important social skills that help children grow during everyday play. In collaborative play, children solve a problem by working together to reach a common goal. Unlike competitive play that involves clear winners and losers, everybody wins in collaborative play. For this activity, one of your little ones was placed with a partner.

They then worked together to decide upon which “crop” to plant, using their tractors to loosen up the soil. Lastly, they were given seeds and navigated their tractors around their “crops” with their friends!