Does Anyone Know? - San Antonio,TX

Kids parallel play until sometime between 3-4 years old. It depends a lot on the child, but I worked in a daycare all through college and now attend several moms' groups, and I know no children under 3 who actually "play" with other children, mostly they just watch each other or play side-by-side. My son is 17 months old, and I do take him to a variety of play groups, but it's more for MY socialization than his. ^_^

Parallel play is the norm even up to 4. They will play near each other but not exactly 'with" each other with much level of concentration.

It depends on what you mean by interacting. Babies LOVE watching faces of other babies. But if you mean playing together, they don't play cooperatively till late 3 or 4 yrs old. Many are still working out play issues when they start kindergarten. They might play next to each other, but they get into tantrums over who grabbed what toy and it takes awhile for them to understand sharing.
Have you ever seen the 'Toddler Rules of Ownership'? It's SO true - it's just exactly what they do:

If I like it, it's mine.
If it's in my hand, it's mine.
If I can take it from you, it's mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
If I think it's mine, it's mine.
If it's yours and I steal it, it's mine.

My daughter seemed to start to notice other babies around 6 months, but really started to playfully interact at around 13/14 months. That said, I think baby playdates are wonderful for moms to interact too!

It all depends on the children. My twins have been interacting with each other since before birth (the ultrasounds were always fascinating to watch :) ) and they started interacting with our older daughter from just a few weeks old. There's really no "right" time for them to do it.

mostly they engage in parallel play, they start interacting anywhere from 2 to 3 years, depends on the baby.

My son loves to play with others, especially his sister who is 2. Start now and he will learn to share with others if you like. There is no harm in this and interacting with other parents will be nice for you too

Mine both stated playing with others around 4-6 months. Playgroups help with interaction or just getting together with others moms that have babies the same age range.

My son will be 3 in November and we have been going to the park once a week with a playgroup of kids his age for about a year now. For the first few months most of the kids did not really play with each other. In the last several months most of the kids have started actually playing together and my son has a friend that lives across the street that he asks to play with and they do chase each other around and play together. From my experience I would say they don't really start playing together until after age 2 and for many closer to age 3.

Good luck,
K.

Here's some info regarding baby play up to 1 years old and the link below has more details:
http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2009/09/30/...

There are a myriad of developmental skills that children learn through play. From their infant to Pre-Kindergarten stages, children are experiencing and learning new things each and every day. With play consuming most of their time, there are different things children learn during every stage of their growth.

Infant to Six Months: Everything is a baby’s first. For example, the first time a baby opens his eyes in his bassinet, he discovers something new – an animal on his mobile. The next morning, there it is again. Will it be there tomorrow? Yes, and then baby learns to trust that when he opens his eyes he will always see the mobile’s giraffe looking back at him. Babies will engage in play first by responding to sounds, then by following objects and people with their eyes. Your baby will demonstrate his memory by repeating an action that made you laugh yesterday. Once infants can hold a rattle a whole new world opens up – you will watch them turn it over, bang it, shake it and even taste it. Rolling over also widens a baby’s world from what is placed before him to 360 degrees of eye-catching curiosity. The new world is fun.

Six Months to One Year: Baby is now his own driving force to play. He no longer needs an adult or older sibling to spark his interest. Rolling over and sitting up has created choices and as he discovers how to move from lying to sitting, he is covering ground and taking aim at his own source of interest. Place toys within and outside of your baby’s reach to encourage self-discovery and motion. Your child is brilliant and will look at a familiar object when called by name. Babies not only want to turn objects around, they want to talk to them and use them the way you tell them to use them. See my hands! You say “clap” with a smile on your face and baby wants to clap and smile, too.

I know my daughter started playing with the little boy I babysat around 4 months. And my niece too..by the time they can crawl, they want to play :o).

Children don't play together until somewhere around 3.

They do parallel play until then; however, interaction with other children is always good for them.

i started having my friend bring her son over when my son was 10 months they played together from the start (usually passing toys back and forth). He's now a year and a half and they play a kind of screech tag whenever they see each other. They don't even need toys. Go ahead and let your kid have the play dates. its good for them to interact with others even if its just staring at them at first.

kids typically don't "play together" until they are closer to 3 years old. Until that time they do what is called "parallel play". They will sit together but play with different toys. Of course you do have the typical one wanting the other's toy type of thing occasionally. That is why it is better to have them start "playing together" the earlier the better. They learn more about sharing that way and interaction with children their own age, etc.

Kids are all so different (as are there parents' attitudes, which affect the overall 'mood' of things), but any time you and your baby meet another baby in a cart in a store (and the other parents seem friendly), let the babies notice each other, and in parks, church, the library and places like this. You'll notice how your baby reacts to different situations and can be the best judge of when, where, and with whom to have him interacting.

It's never too early, even if the playdate is just a reason for you to have an adult conversation with another Mom! Like the others have said, they don't play "with" each other until around 2-4 years old, but they do like being together, even if they're just playing next to each other. They can also learn a lot by watching other kids, so the exposure can be good (or bad if it's bad habits they're picking up, but that's bound to happen eventually!). My son is 2 now and he and my daughter (who is 4 1/2) actually do play together already. They will roll a ball back and forth or play in our play tent or with cars, etc. I think it just depends on the kid. Anyway, a playdate can't hurt, so go for it!

As others said, kids don't really play together until around age 3 or 4. But when my son was a baby, he LOVED to watch older kids playing. We would often go to the park or to a McDonald's playground just so he could watch the big kids. So depending on his age, kid-watching might be more interesting to your son than a playdate.

From a developmental stand point, most babies and kids do not play "with" someone until about 4. Before that, they engage in what is called parallel play- playing with something side by side, not necessarily interacting with each other, but not ignoring the other, either.

But that does not mean that you should't set up playdates. You need that adult interaction and it never hurts to have your kids around others.

Kids will 'play' together side by side into toddlerhood... I would say children are about 3, for boys maybe even 4 years old, before they actually get the hang of mutual respect and playing well with other children... but it's never too early to introduce your little one to future playmates :)

It's good to socialize kids as early as possible, they interact some, but don't play WITH eachother till about 4. At 5m my son was in a mommy & me parks and rec class and would share toys w/other babies, reach to hold their hands, watch them learn to crawl...