In this paper we examine the development of children's metamemory and provide practical implications of research findings for the classroom. In the first part of the paper we define and discuss the global concept of metacognition, the component processes of metacognition and the importance of each component to children's learning. We then examine the development of children's knowledge about memory and ability to monitor memory (i.e., metamemory). We focus, in particular, on seven major research themes: children's metamemory develops with age and experience, younger children are less aware than older children of the benefits of categorization on recall, younger children use different strategies than older children, children's causal attributions may affect metamemory, instructional interventions must be appropriately timed, children will show more strategy transfer when explicit instructions are provided and children overestimate their memory ability. We discuss implications of these major themes for teachers of young children.