Developmental changes in awareness of the relative benefits of four memory strategies were examined. Preschool, kindergarten and second‐grade children made paired‐comparison judgements of the mnemonic benefits of looking, naming, rehearsal and categorization in a free‐recall task using categorizable materials. Measures of spontaneous strategy use and strategy imitation were also obtained. Preschoolers judged looking as significantly more effective than the other three strategies. The kindergartners showed no significant preference, while second graders judged rehearsal and categorization as significantly more effective than looking or naming. Preschoolers and kindergartners named to‐be‐remembered items, while most second graders used a grouping strategy. Significant relationships between strategic awareness and strategic behaviour were found across ages; however, correlations were not significant when the effect of age was removed. Thus, coordination between strategic knowledge and strategic behaviour appears to result from increases in both strategic awareness and the ease with which more effective strategies can be