<p>Analogical reasoning, a critical cognitive skill underlying higher-order thinking, undergoes dynamic changes across different ages. This cross-sectional study investigated the performance of analogical reasoning and the contributions of executive functions and phonological processing skills to analogical reasoning across different age groups. One hundred and two kindergartners (<i>M</i>_<i>age</i> = 5.00 ± 0.70 years; 60 girls), 216 primary school students (<i>M</i>_<i>age</i> = 8.12 ± 0.84 years; 112 girls), and 64 young adults (<i>M</i>_<i>age</i> = 19.02 ± 0.82 years; 34 girls) in China completed the Stroop-like tasks, the Corsi block task, the backward digit span task, the forward digit span task, and the syllable deletion/character rhyming tasks to respectively assess their inhibitory control, visual-spatial working memory, verbal working memory, phonological memory, and phonological awareness. The analysis was conducted using both the traditional frequentist approach and Bayesian regression methods. Using a visual analogical reasoning task, we found a vital and unique role of visual-spatial working memory in visual analogical reasoning in all three age groups. In contrast, the contribution of verbal working memory, inhibitory control, and phonological awareness were not well-supported. Comparing the differences between the three groups, we found phonological memory was important for primary school students’ but not kindergartners’ or young adults’ analogical reasoning after controlling for working memory and inhibition. These results provide further insight into commonalities and differences in factors contributing to analogical reasoning among different age groups, stressing the contribution of visual-spatial memory to analogy across age spans and phonological memory in childhood.</p>