This article presents an example of a project designed to get children of different ages working together and working for each other. The project relied quite heavily on children creating a dramatic context and the author shows how the dramatic element has the potential to affect their learning in positive ways. The provision of a shared make-believe common context is at the heart of children's symbolic play and provides for purposeful learning and specific language opportunities. As well as looking at the project, the article stresses the importance of appreciating the links between symbolic play and drama and the ways in which drama reaches beyond the experience of children's play.