The objectives of this research project were to find out (1) what is happening in kindergartens throughout California; (2) why teachers in these kindergartens do what they do in their classrooms; (3) how they feel about what they do; and (4) how children react to what happens in these kindergartens. An attempt was made to determine the relationship between didactic and experiential activities in the classroom. A committee of early childhood educators from the California Association for the Education of Young Children (CAEYC) developed a survey instrument designed to meet these objectives. Ten typical kindergarten activities were equally divided into didactic and experiential groups. Participants were asked how often they did each activity, how many children participated, why they did the activity, and how the children reacted to the activity. Survey results indicate that: (1) although kindergarten classrooms offered both didactic and experiential activities, the number of times offered combined with the number of children participating show a preponderance of didactic experiences; (2) didactic instructional experiences registered less interest from children than did experiential activities; (3) the percentages who checked "district or school policy" as reasons for doing reading and mathematics workbooks and diagnostic tests were higher than percentages for other categories; (4) children in California kindergartens have little opportunity for child-initiated choice; and (5) more than half of those who used reading workbooks indicated concern regarding academic pressure. A copy of the survey instrument and the survey results are appended. (PCB)