The present contribution analyses how Spanish textbooks deal with activities requiring primary-school pupils to work in groups. The sample comprised 24 social science, natural science and technology textbooks written for primary school children (6?12 years old). Having coded the information, the authors followed a two-fold methodology geared towards producing a qualitative description of group-work activities as well as a quantitative assessment of the frequency with which these appear, including their continuity. The results indicate that individual activities tend to prevail, although there has been a concerted effort recently to introduce more group-work into textbooks. The underlying educational approach of each publisher determines the frequency, treatment and continuity of group activities. Nonetheless, there is also a perceptible general tendency to reduce those activities aimed at fostering active skills of decision-making and creativity.