How infants and toddlers become skilled social actors has not been examined as often as the peer interactions of older children. This study examined 24, middle-class toddlers (ages 23 to 33 months) in 9 different settings during their free-play time at a university-cooperative nursery school. Researchers analyzed 150 social bids which were either toddler initiated or teacher facilitated. Social bids ranged in length from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. The 18 strategies toddlers used in their bids were collapsed into 3 categories: (1) distal contact (staring at peer play from a distance greater than three feet away); (2) proximal contact (touching a peer or leaning over next to a peer); and (3) verbalizing. Of the 150 events, 49 percent were nonverbal contacts and 51 percent were verbal bids. Half the toddlers used only one strategy to attain peer interaction, while half used from two to six sequenced strategies. In 46 percent of the events, the toddler physically left the area, while 34 percent of the time toddlers ended the interaction without leaving the area. Most toddler bids for social peer interactions were unsuccessful and teachers only attempted to assist in 15 percent of the cases. Care givers may need more training to notice toddlers' ineffective social bids and to find creative, minimally intrusive ways, to facilitate toddlers' social interaction. (Author/RJM)