16 Farm Movies for Kids, Sorted by Age

These are farm animal and farm life movies. If what your kid actually wants is machinery, you want our tractor movies for kids list instead, which covers the big equipment shows and has several free options on it.

Living across a dirt road from 350 acres of farmland means Thomas and I end up talking about farms a lot. Movies turned out to be the easiest way to keep that going on a rainy afternoon, so I pulled together every farm movie worth sitting through and sorted them by age.

On the Farm Movies for Kids pin with Babe, Chicken Run, Charlotte’s Web, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Barnyard and Dreamer DVD covers

Everything here has a working link as of this week. One is included with Prime at no extra cost and the rest are DVDs, most of them under twelve dollars.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a commission when anything is bought. This is at no additional cost to you.

Table of Contents

For Toddlers and Preschoolers

Shaun the Sheep

Start here if your kid is under five. Shaun and the flock get into trouble on Mossy Bottom Farm while the Farmer stays blissfully unaware, and there is no dialogue at all, just grunts and bleats and sound effects. I especially like that for a kid who is not reading yet or who cannot follow a plot, because nothing gets lost. Six seasons are included with Prime, so it is also the cheapest thing on this list.

Best for: ages 2 to 6 Runtime: roughly 7 minute episodes, 6 seasons Rating: TV-G

Watch Free on Amazon Prime

Curious George: Go West, Go Wild

This is the one to put on when a kid starts asking what actually happens on a farm. George visits a working farm, meets the animals and causes the usual amount of trouble. I especially like that it explains chores and animal care without turning the whole movie into a lesson, which is rarer than it should be in preschool films.

Best for: ages 3 to 7 Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes Rating: G

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Charlotte’s Web (1973)

The animated one, and the gentler of the two versions. Wilbur the pig is headed for slaughter until a barn spider starts writing words in her web to save him. I especially like this version for younger kids because the songs break up the heavy parts. Be warned that Charlotte still dies at the end and your kid will have questions.

Best for: ages 4 and up Runtime: Amazon does not list one for this edition Rating: G

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Babe

A pig raised by sheepdogs decides he is going to be a sheepdog. That is the whole premise and it absolutely works. I especially like how seriously it treats a small animal deciding he is more than what everyone assumed, which lands hard for a kid who feels overlooked. Gentle without being sugary, and the farm itself is beautiful.

Best for: ages 4 and up Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes Rating: G

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Animated Farm Comedies

Chicken Run

Claymation chickens plan a prison break off an egg farm before the owner turns them into pies. I especially like that it is genuinely funny for the adult in the room without leaning on jokes that sail over the kids. Fair warning, the pie machine sequence is tense and a sensitive four year old may end up in your lap.

Best for: ages 5 and up Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes Rating: G

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Shaun the Sheep Movie

If the series lands, this is the next step up. The flock accidentally sends the Farmer off to the city and has to go get him back. I especially like that it stays completely wordless at feature length, which is a real trick, and the city scenes give older kids more to look at than the series does.

Best for: ages 4 and up Runtime: 1 hour 24 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Barnyard: The Original Party Animals

The loud one, and sometimes loud is exactly what the evening needs. The farm animals throw parties the second the farmer goes to bed, and then Otis has to actually grow up and take responsibility for the place. I especially like it as a Friday night pick when nobody has the energy for anything with a message.

Best for: ages 6 and up Runtime: Amazon does not list one for this edition Rating: not listed

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Home on the Range

Three dairy cows set out to catch a cattle rustler and save their farm from auction. At well under ninety minutes it is the shortest movie here, which makes it a solid school night pick. I especially like Roseanne Barr as the lead cow, which sounds like a strange thing to say until you watch it.

Best for: ages 5 and up Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

The Secret Life of Pets 2

Not a farm movie start to finish, but the main storyline sends Max to a farm where a working sheepdog named Rooster has no patience whatsoever for a nervous city dog. I especially like that section for an anxious kid, because the whole point is doing a scary thing badly before you ever do it well.

Best for: ages 5 and up Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Horse Movies for Older Kids

Spirit Untamed

The pick for a kid who is deep in a horse phase. A girl moves to her father’s frontier town and bonds with a wild mustang nobody else can handle. I especially like that it is the gentlest horse movie on this list, with almost no real peril, which makes it the right first one for a younger kid.

Best for: ages 5 and up Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Flicka

A step up from Spirit in every way, including the hard parts. A sixteen year old wants to run her family’s Wyoming ranch and tames a wild mustang her father wants gone. I especially like it for tweens who are ready for a story where the parents turn out to be wrong about something.

Best for: ages 9 and up Runtime: Amazon does not list one for this edition Rating: not listed

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story

Based on a true story, and the one most likely to get the whole room crying. A horse trainer and his daughter take in a racehorse with a broken leg that everyone else has written off. I especially like that the recovery is slow and unglamorous instead of a two minute montage.

Best for: ages 8 and up Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Racing Stripes

A zebra raised on a Kentucky farm decides he is a racehorse. It is the silliest of the horse movies, with talking animals and a lot of barn humor, so it fills a completely different slot than Dreamer does. I especially like it for the age where a kid wants an animal movie but is not ready for anything sad.

Best for: ages 6 and up Runtime: 1 hour 24 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Live Action and Real Farms

Fly Away Home

Geese rather than livestock, but it belongs on this list. A girl raises a flock of orphaned goslings on her father’s Ontario farm and then has to teach them to migrate using an ultralight plane. Based on a true story. I especially like that the adults take a thirteen year old’s idea seriously, which kids absolutely notice.

Best for: ages 8 and up Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

Charlotte’s Web (2006)

The live action version, and the one to reach for when a kid has outgrown the cartoon but still wants the story. Real animals, a real barn, and Julia Roberts as Charlotte. I especially like it for a kid who has read the book, because this version sticks closer to it. The ending is still the ending, so have tissues ready.

Best for: ages 6 and up Runtime: Amazon does not list one for this edition Rating: not listed

Buy the DVD on Amazon

The Biggest Little Farm

The documentary, and the one I would save for a slow Sunday afternoon. A couple leaves Los Angeles to rebuild two hundred acres of dead soil into a working farm, and it takes them eight years and a great deal of failure. I especially like that it refuses to pretend farming is peaceful. Animals do die in it, so know your kid before you start.

Best for: ages 8 and up Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes Rating: PG

Buy the DVD on Amazon

How to Pick One

If your kid is under five, start in the first section and do not skip ahead. The horse movies look like they belong to the same list but they are not the same experience, and Dreamer in particular has a long stretch where things look bad for the horse.

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If you want a guaranteed no-tears night, Barnyard, Home on the Range and Racing Stripes are the three with nothing sad in them. Charlotte’s Web, Dreamer and The Biggest Little Farm are the three that will get somebody.

Farm Movies for Kids FAQ

For two to five year olds, start with Shaun the Sheep. There is no dialogue at all, so a kid who is not reading yet misses nothing, and the episodes run about seven minutes. After that, Curious George: Go West, Go Wild shows a real working farm, and Charlotte’s Web from 1973 is the gentler of the two versions. Babe works for this age too, though it is longer.

Yes. All six seasons of Shaun the Sheep are included with an Amazon Prime membership at no extra charge, which covers a lot of afternoons on its own. The rest of the list is rent or buy, and the DVDs are mostly between six and twelve dollars, which often works out cheaper than renting the same title twice.

Four of them. Curious George: Go West, Go Wild, Charlotte’s Web from 1973, Babe and Chicken Run are all rated G, and Shaun the Sheep is TV-G. Most of the rest are PG, usually for a sad stretch or an animal in danger rather than anything a kid will repeat at school.