This study examined the ability of 59 2- and 3-year-old children to monitor goal-directed activities with respect to an anticipated outcome. The study focused on two skills: error monitoring and error avoidance through anticipatory monitoring. To elicit monitoring, a variety of simple tasks were presented to the children. In each, a successful outcome required some amount of anticipation or correction of errors during the course of acting. The tasks included carrying water without spilling, tracking, nesting cups, handling blocks according to a rule, and pouring a specified amount of water into a funnel. The results indicated that task success increased with age: 2-year-olds were successful on about a quarter of the tasks, the older children on three quarters. This increased success was described in terms of two differences. The first concerned the change in the importance of the goal for the child, and the second involved a change in the ability to anticipate, as well as detect and correct, errors. (RJC)