What are the Top 20 Educational Movies for Children?
The best educational movies for children teach important life skills such as emotional intelligence, resilience, confidence, empathy, adaptability, and growth mindset. Top picks include Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, Moana, Ratatouille, Wonder, Elio, and Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, each offering valuable lessons through engaging stories and memorable characters.
"I'm bored."
Many parents and teachers want children to have fun without spending hours glued to content that adds little value. The best educational movies entertain while teaching resilience, empathy, curiosity, and a growth mindset.
Research suggests that watching movies together can strengthen parent-child relationships and support children's social and emotional development.
Here are 20 educational movies that inspire meaningful conversations.
Table of Content
What Makes a Good Educational Movie?
Educational movies do more than teach facts.
A well-chosen film gives children a safe way to see big emotions and hard situations play out and to talk about them afterward.
Research suggests that storytelling helps children develop social-emotional skills such as emotional understanding, empathy, and perspective-taking. When parents and children watch movies together, those shared stories can also create opportunities for meaningful conversations and stronger family connections (Cecchi et al., 2024).
That's why the movies on this list were selected not only for their entertainment value, but for the life skills they help children practice and develop.
How to Turn Movie Night Into a Meaningful Conversation?
The real learning often happens after the credits roll.
Research suggests that cinematic stories paired with guided discussion can support children's social and emotional development (Güneyli, 2025).
Follow these simple steps to help children connect movie themes to their own experiences and strengthen important life skills.
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Encourage perspective-taking.
Ask questions like, "Why do you think that character made that choice?" or "How would you feel if you were in that situation?" These conversations help children practice empathy and see situations from different points of view. -
Connect the story to real life.
Help your child relate the movie to their own experiences. You might ask, "Have you ever felt the way that character felt?" or "What would you have done differently?" -
Focus on the lesson, not the plot.
Instead of quizzing children about what happened, talk about what the characters learned. Ask, "What helped them keep going?" or "What can we learn from their mistake?" -
Keep the conversation natural.
You don't need a formal discussion after every movie. Sometimes a single thoughtful question is enough to spark reflection and create a meaningful connection.
What are the Top 20 Educational Movies for Children?
The best educational movies for children do more than entertain — they build real, nameable skills: emotional intelligence, resilience, growth mindset, confidence, and empathy.
We've organized the movies below by the life skills they help develop, making it easier to find the right movie for your child's current challenges and interests.
Reminder: Please preview or read about the suggested movies to ensure they are appropriate for your child.
What Movies Teach Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence helps children recognize, understand, and manage their emotions while developing empathy for others.
Research published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications found that structured exposure to animated content improved emotional intelligence and empathy in primary school-aged children (Razzaq et al., 2024).
The films below help children build emotional awareness, understand that all feelings serve a purpose, and practice seeing the world through someone else's perspective.
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1. Inside Out (2015) | Rated PGInside Out 2 follows Riley into adolescence, introducing new emotions like Anxiety, Envy, and Ennui alongside the original core five. The film's central lesson is that anxiety exists to protect us but can spiral out of control. This gives children (and parents) language for a feeling many kids struggle to describe. Ideal for ages 8 and up, and genuinely useful for any child navigating the transition to middle school. |
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2. The Adam Project (2022) | Rated PG-13Time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed crash-lands in 2022 and teams up with his 12-year-old self to save the future. Beneath the action is a film about grief, emotional avoidance, and what happens when you finally face the feelings you've been outrunning. The father-son storyline is genuinely moving and rare. A film that shows a male character processing emotion honestly. A strong choice for older children and a natural watch for parents and kids together. |
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3. Turning Red (2022) | Rated PGThirteen-year-old Meilin transforms into a giant red panda whenever her emotions spike, a vivid metaphor for the overwhelm of puberty and big feelings. The film validates the experience of being "too much" and reframes it as power rather than problem. Particularly resonant for kids aged 9–13 who feel embarrassed by their own emotional intensity. |
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4. Encanto (2021) | Rated PGEncanto centers on Mirabel, the one member of a magical family without a gift and on Luisa, her sister who carries everyone else's weight until she breaks. The film tackles perfectionism, family pressure, and the exhausting need to earn love through performance. Children who tie their self-worth to achievements will recognize themselves in this one. |
What Movies Teach Resilience & Adaptability?
Resilience helps children recover from setbacks, while adaptability helps them navigate change and uncertainty.
Research suggests that resilience develops through everyday experiences that allow children to face challenges, learn from mistakes, and build coping skills over time (Masten, 2001).
The films below show children what it actually looks like to keep going after a disappointment, adapt when plans change, and find strength in difficult situations.
PRO TIP: If resilience is a skill your child is working on right now, Big Life Journal give children daily prompts to practice the same kind of grit these stories model.
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5. The Wild Robot (2024) | Rated PGRoz, a robot washed ashore on a wild island, must learn to survive in an environment she was never built for and raise an orphaned gosling in the process. The Wild Robot is one of the most moving portrayals of grief, adaptation, and found family in recent children's cinema. The central message that survival requires learning, not perfection lands hard and lands beautifully. |
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6. Moana (2016) | Rated PGMoana fails repeatedly on her quest to save her island. She turns back. She tries again. She fails again. Then she tries once more. What makes this film exceptional for building resilience isn't the ending — it's the middle. Children see a hero who genuinely doubts herself and keeps going anyway, which is a far more honest portrayal of perseverance than most films offer. |
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7. Spirited Away (2001) | Rated PGWhen Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs by a spirit witch, ten-year-old Chihiro must survive and work entirely alone in a world she doesn't understand. Studio Ghibli's Academy Award-winning masterpiece is one of the most powerful portrayals of a child's resilience ever made. Chihiro has no special powers and no one to rescue her — she adapts, works hard, and persists through sheer determination. A film that respects children's capacity for genuine fear and genuine courage in equal measure. |
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8. Finding Nemo (2003) | Rated GMarlin, an anxious clownfish, crosses an entire ocean to find his son and confronting every fear he has along the way. Nemo, meanwhile, refuses to accept his "lucky fin" as a limitation. Both storylines model resilience in different ways: Marlin shows that love is stronger than fear; Nemo shows that perceived weakness doesn't define outcomes. A timeless choice for any age. |
What Movies Teach Growth Mindset?
A growth mindset is the belief that abilities can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence.
Research by psychologist Carol Dweck found that children who view intelligence and talent as qualities that can grow are more likely to embrace challenges, persist through setbacks, and achieve higher levels of success over time (Dweck & Leggett, 1988).
These films embody the belief that ability is developed through effort.
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9. Ratatouille (2007) | Rated G"Anyone can cook" is the film's central thesis — not that everyone will be a great chef, but that greatness can come from anywhere. Remy the rat pursues his passion in a world that tells him he doesn't belong, and succeeds not because of natural talent alone but because of practice, observation, and genuine love for the craft. A perfect film for children who've been told they're "not the type" to be good at something. |
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10. Kung Fu Panda (2008) | Rated PGPo is told from the beginning that he's wrong for the role of Dragon Warrior — too clumsy, too untrained, too much of a fan. The film's most quoted scene reveals there is no "secret ingredient" to being special; the secret is believing in yourself enough to work. For children who compare themselves to peers who seem naturally talented, this film reframes the entire question. |
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11. Akeelah and the Bee (2006) | Rated PGEleven-year-old Akeelah Anderson competes in the Scripps National Spelling Bee despite pressure from peers, self-doubt, and a community that tells her not to "act smart." The film's famous quote — "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure" — is worth the whole runtime. One of the most underrated growth mindset films for children aged 8 and up. |
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12. Paper Planes (2014) | Not Rated12-year-old Dylan is passionate about flight. Discovering his knack for folding and flying paper airplanes, Dylan is quickly swept up into the World Paper Plane Championships. It is there he meets a rival in the form of Jason, whose behavior only helps motivate Dylan further. But it’s his new friend Kimi who says it best: “Winning and losing doesn’t matter, it’s about making something beautiful and surprising.” |
What Movies Teach Confidence & Courage?
Confidence grows when children face challenges, develop new skills, and discover they can handle difficult situations.
Research by psychologist Albert Bandura found that children build self-confidence by successfully overcoming obstacles and accomplishing goals that once felt out of reach (Bandura, 1977).
These films show children that courage is not the absence of fear — it's acting anyway.
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13. Wonder (2017) | Rated PGAuggie Pullman starts fifth grade with a facial difference and a fierce internal life. Wonder is told from multiple perspectives — including his sister's and his classmates' — which makes it rare: a film that builds empathy in every direction. The film's central principle, "when given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind," has become a touchstone in classrooms worldwide. |
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14. Matilda (2022) | Rated PGRoald Dahl's beloved story of Matilda, a bright, curious child who refuses to let difficult circumstances define her future. Despite being underestimated at home and at school, she continues to stand up for herself, trust her abilities, and do what she believes is right. The film teaches children that confidence isn't about being the loudest person in the room—it's about believing in yourself and speaking up, even when it's hard. |
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15. Zootopia (2016) | Rated PGJudy Hopps dreams of becoming a police officer, even though everyone around her believes she's too small and inexperienced to succeed. Throughout the film, she faces setbacks, self-doubt, and criticism, but continues working toward her goal. Zootopia reminds children that confidence grows through persistence and that believing in yourself matters most when others don't. |
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16. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) | Rated PGFour siblings step through a wardrobe into a world that needs them to be braver than they've ever been. The film's courage lives in its specificity: Lucy believing when no one else does, Edmund finding the strength to turn back after betrayal, Peter accepting leadership he never asked for. Based on C.S. Lewis's classic novel, a live-action classic that has introduced the concept of moral courage to generations of children. |
What Movies Teach Belonging, Empathy & Social Skills?
Stories help children step into someone else's world.
Research has found that emotionally engaging stories improve children's learning and memory, making story-based experiences a powerful way to introduce new ideas and perspectives (Dong et al., 2024).
These films encourage children to appreciate different experiences, understand perspectives beyond their own, and teach kids to be kind.
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17. Elio (2025) | Rated PGElio, a kid who has always felt like he doesn't belong on Earth, is accidentally beamed up as humanity's intergalactic ambassador. The film explores what it means to be an outsider, to feel misunderstood, and to find your people in unexpected places. For children who feel different — too nerdy, too sensitive, too odd for the crowd around them, Elio is a film that says: that thing that makes you weird is the thing that makes you extraordinary. |
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18. Swapped (2026) | Rated PGA body-swap story between a popular girl and a nerdy student who couldn't be more different. What starts as a comedy becomes a genuine exploration of assumption and empathy, each character realizing that the life they envied from the outside is harder than it looked. A great entry point for children who judge peers or feel judged themselves. |
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19. Soul (2020) | Rated PGA jazz musician on the verge of his big break is accidentally sent to the Great Before, a realm where souls discover their personality traits before birth. Soul asks children (and adults) a genuinely hard question: What makes a life worth living? Achieving your dream, or the everyday moments in between? For children who are intensely goal-oriented, it opens a conversation about presence, joy, and what we're actually chasing. |
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20. I Am Eleven (2011) | Not RatedAustralian filmmaker Genevieve Bailey spent six years traveling to 15 countries to film children at the age of 11. Their answers to questions about love, war, family, and what makes life worth living are by turns funny, heartbreaking, and wise from a group of girls in an Indian orphanage to a boy in a remote French village. For children approaching adolescence, seeing peers across the world share the same fears and hopes is one of the most powerful empathy experiences a film can offer. |
BONUS: What Documentaries are Worth Watching for Kids?
Sometimes the most powerful lessons come from real life.
These inspiring documentaries introduce children to real people who demonstrate resilience, perseverance, curiosity, empathy, and courage. They prove that growth doesn't happen because life is easy, it happens because people keep going when things get hard.
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1. Unstoppable (2018) | Rated PGAfter losing her arm in a shark attack at age 13, Bethany Hamilton returned to competitive surfing and refused to give up on her dream. Her story is a powerful example of resilience, determination, and the belief that setbacks don't have to define your future. |
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2. Spellbound (2002) | Rated GA documentary that sparked an entire genre, Spellbound follows eight students from across the country as they compete in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Filmmaker Jeffrey Blitz travels to Washington, D.C. to capture the grit of finalists like Ashley White, who overcome incredible odds just to compete. The importance of daily practice and hard work is highlighted. |
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3. Jane (2017) | Rated PGThis film is drawn from never-before-seen footage of one of the world’s most beloved conservationists. Whether or not children know the story of Jane Goodall, her struggles as a student and budding scientist will feel relatable. Initially nervous about going into the wild, Goodall soon gains the trust of the chimpanzees she studied, and in doing so, is able to connect us to their world. |
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4. Born to Be Wild (2011) | Rated GConservationists Dr. Biruté Galdikas and Daphne Sheldrick dedicate their lives to rehabilitating orphaned orangutans and elephants.It introduces children to empathy, compassion, and environmental stewardship while showing how one person's commitment can create meaningful change. |
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5. Girls Rock! (2007) | Rated PGIf you’re looking for a film to build your child’s confidence, look no further. This girl power documentary follows four pre-teen and teen girls as they choose a new instrument and write a song. When they perform a concert for an audience of 700, your child can only be inspired by their bravery! |
The best educational movies do more than entertain, they also improve children's social-emotional learning.
More importantly, they create opportunities for meaningful conversations. Because sometimes the lesson children remember most isn't what happened in the movie—it's the conversation that followed.
Want to go deeper on growth mindset with your child between movie nights?
Big Life Journal products are designed to help kids aged 4–18 build the same skills these films explore. It includes science-backed prompts that make reflection feel like play, not homework.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which movies are best for kids who struggle with anxiety or big emotions?
Start with Inside Out (2015) for children aged 5–8 — it gives anxiety, sadness, and anger names and faces, which makes those feelings easier to talk about. For older children (9+), Inside Out 2 adds the specific experience of anxiety spiraling out of control, which many tweens find deeply validating.
Can animated movies actually teach children real skills, or is that wishful thinking?
Decades of research in social-emotional learning support the idea that narrative — including fiction and film — is one of the most effective vehicles for building emotional vocabulary and empathy in children. A child who watches Remy fail repeatedly in Ratatouille and keep going has experienced failure and persistence in a low-stakes environment. That emotional rehearsal is real. The key is watching together and talking afterward — even briefly.
Which films are appropriate for younger children (ages 4–7)?
Finding Nemo (rated G) and Coco (rated PG) are both appropriate for ages 4 and up. Encanto and Moana work well from age 5. Inside Out is best from about age 6, when children have enough emotional vocabulary to follow the internal storyline. Born to Be Wild is the most accessible documentary for this age group.
What's the best movie for a child who gives up easily or hates making mistakes?
Ratatouille and Kung Fu Panda are excellent choices because both show that success comes from effort, practice, and persistence — not natural talent. For children who need a reminder that mistakes are part of learning, Paper Planes and Akeelah and the Bee reinforce the idea that growth happens when we keep trying, even when things feel difficult.
How do I turn a movie night into a growth mindset conversation without it feeling like a lesson?
Keep it to one question, asked naturally after the credits roll. Try: "Which character do you think worked the hardest in that film?" or "Was there a moment where someone could have given up but didn't?" or "Did any character remind you of yourself?" The goal isn't to debrief — it's to open a door. If your child wants to talk, great. If not, the film has already done its work.
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Cecchi, F., Baroni, G., Ferrario, C., & Ripamonti, E. (2024). Exploring the role of storyline characters and interactive storytelling techniques in fostering socio-emotional learning in early childhood education. ResearchGate. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10069.55689
Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256
Dong, Y., Mak, M. H. C., Hepach, R., & Nation, K. (2024). Learning new words via reading: The influence of emotional narrative context on learning novel adjectives. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218241308221
Güneyli, A. (2025). Exploring elementary students' social-emotional development through dialogic pedagogy: Insights from cinematic narratives. Behavioral Sciences, 15(12), 1701. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15121701
Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56(3), 227–238. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.227
Razzaq, F., Siddiqui, A., Ashfaq, S., et al. (2024). Assessing the impact of a video literacy program on emotional intelligence and resilience to extremism in primary school children. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 1507.
About the Author
Alexandra Eidens is the founder of Big Life Journal and an advocate for applying growth mindset research to children's development. Her work has been featured in The New York Times and The Today Show. Through Big Life Journal, she translates research from psychologists such as Carol Dweck into therapist-reviewed, evidence-based tools and strategies that help children build resilience, adaptability, confidence, emotional intelligence, and a growth mindset.
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