The two first years of life are critical in the development of Executive Functions (EF). However, very little is known about their early manifestations, how they develop, how they relate to other psychological constructions or the status of other people’s influence in this early development. The study of EFs has been carried out through standardised tasks, but some authors question their ecological validity and suggest an approach involving everyday situations and the challenges that children set for themselves. In this article we first review these issues in relation to the first manifestations of EFs. We secondly present a longitudinal case study at nursery school of a child between the ages of 8 and 17 months, considering the challenges and the means he employed in order to resolve them. We found that, from 8 months of age, the child gave himself challenges in relation to the functional uses of objects and instruments. He regulated his own behavior both through object and instrument uses and private gestures. He also involved the teacher at 17 months. This finding suggests that (1) the material world is particularly important in these early manifestations of EF, (2) teachers’ interventions are essential. Implications of the findings for early years education are discussed.

生命的最初两年对于执行功能（EF）的发展至关重要。然而，人们对它们的早期表现、它们如何发展、它们与其他心理结构如何相关或其他人在早期发展中的影响状态知之甚少。EF 研究是通过标准化任务进行的，但一些作者质疑其生态有效性，并建议采用一种涉及日常情况和儿童为自己设定的挑战的方法。在本文中，我们首先回顾这些与 EF 最初表现相关的问题。其次，我们对一个 8 至 17 个月大的儿童在幼儿园进行了纵向案例研究，考虑了所面临的挑战以及他为解决这些问题而采用的方法。我们发现，从 8 个月大起，孩子就开始在物体和工具的功能使用方面给自己带来挑战。他通过物品和工具的使用以及私人手势来调节自己的行为。他在 17 个月大时也让老师参与其中。这一发现表明：(1) 物质世界在 EF 的早期表现中尤为重要，(2) 教师的干预至关重要。讨论了研究结果对早期教育的影响。