The majority of past research on future thinking has asked children to make choices for specific
future events. For example, Atance and O’Neill (2005b) asked 3-year-olds to select three objects to
take with them on a trip and then asked the children to explain why they chose each item. The
researchers found that children as young as 3 years were able to refer to the future in their explanations
and, furthermore, could account for uncertainties that were present when planning for the future
(e.g., bringing a bandage in case someone gets hurt). Because children were able to incorporate uncertainty
into their explanations (e.g., accounting for the possibility of getting hurt), these findings suggest
that 3-year-olds have the ability to think about and refer, linguistically, to the future in the
choices they make. Furthermore, children’s choices may have been based on semantic future thinking
processes