In a sample of 369 children from low-income neighborhoods in Germany (Mage = 8.49 years; 50.41% female), we (1) investigated changes in children’s executive functions (EFs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) explored whether families’ nurturing care could protect children’s EFs. We repeatedly examined children before and after a six-month lockdown period with school closures in late 2020 and mid-2021. We used the Flanker/Reverse Flanker Task to assess subdomains of children’s EFs (cognitive flexibility, effortful inhibition, selective attention), and we asked home-room teachers about families’ capacities to provide nurturing care. Multi-level modeling showed that task performances requiring cognitive flexibility and effortful inhibition deteriorated throughout the lockdown period while selective attention improved. The deterioration in effortful inhibition occurred in children with lower levels of nurturing care only. Our study suggests multidirectional effects of pandemic-related adversity on the EFs of socioeconomically disadvantaged children. Future research should distinguish between the effects of environmental adversity on bottom-up versus top-down dominated EFs.