Children strategically decide what to practice

Adjusting practice to different goals and task characteristics is pivotal for learning, but it is unclear how this essential skill develops. Across 2 preregistered experiments, 190 children aged 4-8 years (106 female) and 31 adults played an easy and a difficult game and were informed that they would later be tested on either the easy, the difficult, or a randomly chosen game. Before the test, they could practice one of the two games. We found that children and adults selectively chose to practice whichever game they will be tested on. Critically, in the Random condition children and adults chose to practice the difficult game to minimize losses, suggesting that even 4-year-olds understand how to prepare for an unknown future.