<p>Hmmm....I see my 3 year old and his so-called "best friend" doing a lot together in their classroom. The kids comingle alot and are very social, but it must not be distracting to the work effort. Children are allowed to work alone, or with groups...but if they find that they want to talk to another student and chat, thats fine as long as they both continue to focus on the work and solve the problems together. My 4-year old is drawn to the 5/6-year olds, so she loves seeing and talking to them on how they solve their lessons. My 3 year old, on the other hand, is interested in what his sister is doing, as well as what the other 3 year olds are doing. But, when he is working on something, the older kids will often stop by his mat and help him with his work. He is not seeking them out as much as my DD, but thats just an "age" thing. He does play WITH a few friends, but just as many he is playing in parallel...again just a normal developmental thing.</p>