Private speech (PS) – or speech for the self – was studied in preschool-agechildren to determine how widely and with what characteristics it occurs when examined in thefamiliar home setting. Activities were selected that required several steps and that were intendedto engage working memory or longer term recall. Both quantitative (numbers of words andutterances produced) and qualitative (utterance type) analyses were conducted on thechildren's PS. Across the age range from 4 ½ to 6 years, younger children hadhigher frequencies of PS than older children, which fits the predictions made by Vygotsky(1958/1962, 1978). Increased information loads resulted in more PS, indicating a relationbetween PS and task difficulty; however, total quantities of PS were not correlated with degree oftask success. Self-regulatory utterances accounted for 89% of the PS produced; themajority of these utterances involved repetitions of the instructions that appeared to enhancerecall, to help pace the children's activity, or to enable deliberation with respect to makingchoices. There was a strong age trend in which the amount of audible PS decreased with age.Qualitative differences across tasks are presented and considered in relation to how PS functionsfor different activities and possibly achieves adaptive significance.