A question commonly raised by teachers is the extent to which task-based language teaching (TBLT) is suitable for young beginners, but to date, very little research has examined how TBLT can be implemented with complete beginners. The purpose of this article is to document my attempt to introduce a task-based approach in order to see if such an approach was viable for young Japanese learners of English, who were complete beginners. I first describe the tasks I developed and then report on how I implemented them with 15 six-year-old children who had no prior knowledge of English. I then focus on the interactions that arose during the repeated performance of the tasks by considering (1) the learners' voluntary production and (2) their comprehension of the teacher's input. I shall demonstrate that task-based teaching was possible with these complete beginners and that they continued to be engaged actively when the tasks were repeated. I conclude by discussing a number of general principles arising out of my study that could be useful in guiding teachers when implementing input-based tasks with young beginner learners