Children (N=408) from three experimental infant schools in Israel were observed during their free play for three consecutive weeks, using observational categories based on Parten's (1932) work. Findings based on 2,157 observations provide norms of social behavior and organization for ages five to seven, an age group which was not studied intensively before. Findings include: (1) a high percentage of positive social interaction (54%), a low percentage of negative social interaction (3.4%) and a moderate percentage of solitary play (18.8%) and onlooker behavior (11%) were found; (2) the social organization pattern was 57% dyads, 28% group of three to four children, 14% groups of five or more children; (3) no age difference in social behavior was found, but kindergartners played significantly less in large groups than first graders; (4) boys were significantly higher in their physical negative behavior and physical positive behavior. In general, boys were significantly more active than girls and interacted with more playmates. The paucity of naturalistic observational studies about social behavior patterns in the early school years enables only a partial comparison to former work, which is heavily based on children aged two to five. The high level of socially oriented behaviors found in the present study sharply contradicts findings claiming that children in the 70's are less socially oriented in their play activities than were their contemporaries of 40 years ago. (Author)