What do you remember about Captain Jon’s visit?: Parent–child conversations and children’s memory for a science lesson

•Kindergartners, 2nd/3rd and 5th/6th graders talked about science lesson with parents.•Memory assessments for concepts/event details 3 and 15 days later at school.•Parents’ elaborative questioning positively associated with kindergartners’ memory.•In contrast, elaboration negatively associated with older children’s memory.•Developmental changes in relationship between parent elaboration-children’s memory.