<p>Existing research has demonstrated the importance of effective studying for academic success; however, little is understood about the emergence of children’s strategic study behaviors. The current study was designed to examine elementary-aged children’s spontaneous use of study strategies and whether early executive functioning supports the development of their strategic efforts. A sample of 105 second and third-grade students was assessed while studying an informational text—the type of study behaviors used, as well as how strategically they implemented each strategy was noted. At the conclusion of the task, children were prompted to recall facts from the passage. Given the importance of executive functions (EFs) for learning and strategy use, three measures of EF were administered during kindergarten and included as predictors of studying performance. The results revealed that children used a variety of different strategies to study the text passage, with rereading, underlining/highlighting, and note-taking being used most frequently. Moreover, the majority of children employed multiple strategies during the study period. Both the number of strategies that students used as well as how strategically they applied these study behaviors were predictive of recall performance. Additionally, children’s kindergarten cognitive flexibility was a significant predictor of their later study strategy use. In contrast, inhibitory control and working memory scores were not associated with studying or recall. These findings demonstrate that elementary-age children are capable of using studying strategies and suggest that cognitive flexibility may play a role in the emergence of early strategic studying.</p>