Family Fun and Games | Movie Night | Tractor Movies for Kids

Tractor Movies for Kids

Sharing is caring!

Since I now live in the country with 350 acres of farm land across the little dirt road from me, I get to watch the farmers do their work. Thomas and I talk about all the things necessary to keep a farm running, and that is what started our farm unit study in the first place.

This list of tractor movies for kids is a fun way to teach about farm equipment while keeping the kids interested. I rebuilt the whole thing this fall, because almost every tractor DVD I originally recommended has gone out of print. The good news is that most of what replaced it is free.

Tractor Movies for Kids part of the Farm Animals Unit Study

If your kid is more into the animals than the machines, we have a separate list of farm movies for kids with Charlotte’s Web, Babe, Chicken Run and thirteen more, also sorted by age.

Everything below is sorted by age, and the first section is the free stuff you can turn on right this second. Each title tells you exactly where to watch it, so you are not opening four apps to find out a show is gone.

What You Can Watch Free

Seven of the titles below cost nothing to watch. Three are on YouTube and open to anybody. The other four, including all of Tractor Ted, are included with an Amazon Prime membership at no extra charge. If you are not a member yet: Start a free 30 day Prime trial.

Watch Free Right Now

1
Tractor Ted series on Prime Video showing real farm machinery
Tractor Ted
Start here. Tractor Ted is a British farm series that follows real machines doing real jobs, with no cartoon anywhere in it. I especially like that the narration explains what the machine is actually doing, so a four year old comes away knowing what a baler is instead of just making engine noises at you.
Best for: ages 2 to 6 · Where to watch: included with Prime at no extra cost
Watch Free on Amazon Prime
2
Tractor Ted compilation of big farm machines for kids on YouTube
Tractor Ted: 1 Hour of Big Machines
This is the one for when you need a full hour back. Same series as above, but Tractor Ted stitched an hour of the biggest machines together into a single video on their own channel. I especially like having this bookmarked for the afternoons when nothing else is working.
Best for: ages 2 to 6 · Runtime: about 1 hour · Where to watch: free on YouTube
Watch Free on YouTube
3
John Deere Kids video showing real tractors and farmers at work
John Deere Kids: Real Tractors and Farmers at Work
For the kid who has decided only the green ones count. This is John Deere’s own channel and the footage is from working farms with real operators, not a studio. I especially like that a brand channel managed to make something that is just tractors and the people driving them rather than an advert.
Best for: ages 3 to 8 · Where to watch: free on YouTube
Watch Free on YouTube
4
Little Red Tractor cartoon full episode for young children
Little Red Tractor
Reach for this when you want a story instead of a documentary. It is a gentle British cartoon about a farmer and his tractor sorting out small village problems, and the official channel has full episodes. I especially like how low the stakes are. Nobody is ever in danger and nothing is loud.
Best for: ages 2 to 5 · Where to watch: free on YouTube, official channel
Watch Free on YouTube

For Toddlers and Preschoolers

5
Hector the Tractor animated series for toddlers
Hector the Tractor
Rent this one when you want something new rather than another rewatch of the same episode. Hector is an animated tractor and the episodes build colours, counting and farm jobs into the story. I especially like the length, long enough to be worth paying for and short enough that it does not eat the afternoon.
Best for: ages 2 to 5 · Runtime: 41 minutes · Where to watch: rent or buy on Amazon
Rent or Buy on Amazon
6
Blippi tractor videos for children on Prime Video
Blippi
If yours already knows Blippi, he has a run of tractor episodes and they are on Prime. There is a swather tractor one and a general tractor one, both filmed on real farms. I especially like that he names every part as he climbs on it, which is how a three year old learns the word swather and then says it for a week straight.
Best for: ages 2 to 6 · Where to watch: included with Prime at no extra cost
Watch Free on Amazon Prime
7
Hard Hat Harry Farm Equipment Adventures cover
Hard Hat Harry: Farm Equipment Adventures
Put this on when the question has moved from what is that to how does it work. Harry turns up at real worksites and farms, and this whole episode is farm equipment. I especially like that it runs half an hour, which is almost exactly one cup of coffee.
Best for: ages 3 to 7 · Runtime: 30 minutes · Where to watch: included with Prime at no extra cost
Watch Free on Amazon Prime
8
Bob the Builder series cover on Prime Video
Bob the Builder
Not strictly tractors, but if yours loves machines in general then Bob has been doing this for decades for a reason, and two full seasons are sitting on Prime. I especially like it as the bridge for a kid who is moving from pointing at machines to wanting a story wrapped around them.
Best for: ages 2 to 6 · Where to watch: included with Prime at no extra cost
Watch Free on Amazon Prime

Real Farms and Real Machines

9
Hudson's Playground, a boy driving a tractor on his family farm
Hudson’s Playground
This is my pick of the whole list for a kid who wants the real thing. Hudson is a boy on his family’s farm and the episodes are him and his dad driving tractors, playing in the mud and fixing what breaks. I especially like that it is a real family doing real work, so it feels like something your kid could grow up to do rather than something only a cartoon tractor does.
Best for: ages 3 to 9 · Where to watch: Prime Video, first episode free
Watch on Amazon Prime
10
Mighty Machines Tremendous Tools DVD cover
Mighty Machines: Tremendous Tools
Get this one on disc and keep it in the car. Mighty Machines is the classic machines at work series, filmed on real sites with the machines narrating their own day, and this volume runs an hour and a half. I especially like having a physical copy of something like this, because the back seat never has signal when you need it.
Best for: ages 3 to 8 · Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes · Where to watch: DVD
Buy the DVD on Amazon
11
Mighty Machines Volume 8 DVD cover
Mighty Machines, Volume 8
The next one to add once Tremendous Tools has been watched into the ground. This volume covers making a road, making waves and a few others. I especially like that the series never talks down to them, it just shows the job being done properly from start to finish.
Best for: ages 3 to 8 · Where to watch: DVD
Buy the DVD on Amazon
12
Mighty Machines Volume 1 DVD cover
Mighty Machines, Volume 1
The original volume, and the priciest thing on this list. The content is the same quality as the cheaper volumes, the price is just what happens when a disc gets hard to find. I especially like this one as a birthday or grandparent gift rather than something you buy on a Tuesday.
Best for: ages 3 to 8 · Where to watch: DVD
Buy the DVD on Amazon

For Older Kids and the Whole Family

13
The Biggest Little Farm documentary DVD cover
The Biggest Little Farm
This is the one to put on when you want everybody on the sofa together. It follows a couple who take over a worn out farm in California and spend years bringing the soil back, and the photography is genuinely beautiful. I especially like it for the kid who asks why about everything, but a fair warning that animals die on this farm, including one the film makes you care about first.
Best for: ages 7 and up with a grown up · Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes · Where to watch: DVD, rated PG
Buy the DVD on Amazon
14
Earthworm Tractors 1936 comedy DVD cover
Earthworm Tractors
Put this on if you have an older one who will sit still for black and white. It is a 1936 comedy about a man who talks his way into a job selling tractors without knowing how to drive one, and the machines are the real Caterpillars of the day. I especially like it as the odd one out here, the sort of thing a kid remembers watching with you precisely because it was not like everything else.
Best for: ages 8 and up · Runtime: 1 hour 9 minutes · Where to watch: DVD, made in 1936
Buy the DVD on Amazon
15
The Straight Story, a man riding a lawn mower across Iowa
The Straight Story
Save this one for an older kid and watch it with them. A 73 year old man drives a riding mower three hundred miles across Iowa to make peace with his brother, and it is rated G with nothing in it anyone needs shielding from. I especially like how quiet it is, but be honest with yourself about your own kid first, because it is slow on purpose and the feelings in it are grown up ones.
Best for: ages 9 and up, watched together · Runtime: 1 hour 51 minutes · Where to watch: rent or buy on Amazon, rated G
Rent or Buy on Amazon

Tractor Toys to Go With the Movies

Thomas learns, and pays attention, best when his hands are busy. So we keep a tractor toy or two out while the shows are on. I have already done the digging on which ones hold up, so start with one of these lists instead of scrolling Amazon at nine at night:

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later! You'll also get regular recipes & printables to your inbox!

Tractor Movies for Kids FAQ

For two to five year olds, start with Tractor Ted or Little Red Tractor. Tractor Ted shows real machines doing real jobs with narration that explains what is happening, and Little Red Tractor is a gentle cartoon where nothing is loud and nobody is in danger. Hector the Tractor is a good one to rent when you want something they have not seen. All three are short enough to finish in one sitting.

Tractor Ted, John Deere Kids and Little Red Tractor all have official YouTube channels with full episodes at no cost. If you have Amazon Prime, Tractor Ted, Blippi, Hard Hat Harry and Bob the Builder are all included at no extra charge. Between those two you can fill a whole afternoon without paying for anything.

Yes, though they look nothing like the toddler ones. The Biggest Little Farm is a documentary about a couple rebuilding a worn out farm and the photography is beautiful, though animals do die in it. Earthworm Tractors is a 1936 black and white comedy about a man selling tractors he cannot drive. The Straight Story is rated G and follows a 73 year old man driving a riding mower across Iowa to make peace with his brother.

Turn It Into a Farm Unit Study

The movies are the easy part. If you want the rest of the unit, these are the pieces we actually used:

If you would rather have it all in one place, the Farm Animals Learning Kit in my shop bundles the fact files, worksheets and activities together for $6.99. There is also a Pretend Play Farmers Fresh Market set for $4 if you have a kid who would rather run the farm stand than read about it.

And if movie night is the thing around here, we also have Christmas movies for kids sorted by age and Halloween movies for kids.

Sharing is caring!

Similar Posts

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *