A study of the physical activity or motor responses associated with curiosity, persistence, and problem solving behaviors was undertaken to learn more about the general developmental nature of these behaviors among elementary school children. The sample consisted of 125 children from kindergarten, second, fourth and sixth grade, all of whom voluntarily went to a game room to play Piaget's billiard game. Each was unexpectedly confronted with a scheduled delay during which time he was invited to wait in a waiting room where his behaviors were observed and analyzed. Multivariate and subsequent univariate analyses of variance indicated that: (1) curiosity increased with age, black children were more curious than non-black, no sex differences existed; (2) problem solving ability increased with age, with boys being more successful ultimately than girls; and (3) persistence appeared to be related to age but not to sex or race. The investigation has established a data bank containing baseline information pertaining to the examined behaviors, which can and should play an increasingly important role in educational research. (Author/CJ)