Turtle graphics is a popular vehicle for introducing children to computer programming. Children combine simple graphic commands to get a display screen cursor (called a turtle) to draw designs on the screen. The purpose of this study was to examine young children's abilities to function in a simple computer programming environment. Four- and five-year-olds were asked to solve turtle graphics problems requiring two or three commands for a solution. There were two programming-type conditions. First, children were asked to give the complete sequence of commands in advance (i.e., generate a program). Second, if the sequence did not work, they were asked to determine what went wrong and modify it accordingly (i.e., debug their program). Results of the study indicate that young children had difficulty in generating two- or three-command programs. Their ability to debug their own incorrect programs was not as high as expected. Several implications for educators are discussed. Tables and figures are provided. (TW)