This paper discusses how kindergarten children and their teachers "perform" in kindergartens and how they "account" for their actions. Reported are conclusions from a series of three studies carried out in 15 Israeli kindergartens. Data for the first two studies were collected in non-participant observations, audio-recordings, and semi-structured interviews with teachers. Analyses showed how, within the broader confines of teachers' planned schedules, children exercised discretion over the sounds they made, their movements, and uses of time and space. The ways in which children collectively exercise discretion defined the age-group as a social category and as a group with self-propelled interests different from those of the socializing adults. The third study included interviews with kindergarten teachers and children to elicit accounts of their experiences. Teachers' accounts reflected their educational intentions. Children's accounts showed them to be (1) cognizant of the teachers' schedules; (2) interested in and able to talk about the activities that they themselves initiated; and (3) aware of being part of a group that has a place in the kindergarten environment. It is suggested that the discrepancies between the accounts of chldren and adults are best explained as a latent consequence of how performances are structured in kindergartens. (Author/RH)