Family movie night is something the whole family enjoys. You snuggle up close to your kids with some snacks and blankets, turn down the lights, and have a good two hours of a quiet, fun time.
But, what if you could sneak in a lesson for your children without them even knowing? Whether it be a history lesson on Vikings, Ancient Egypt, or Greek, or building character and social injustice, there are lessons to be learned in many modern children’s movies.
If you’re doing unit studies, or want to highlight a specific topic, then movie night can help you, and here’s how.
Benefits of an Educational Family Movie Night
A movie can teach many lessons, even if it isn’t technically educational like a documentary. Lessons taught in a movie could include character, critical thinking, literature, science, and history.
Movies are a great way to teach a lesson because they visually represent topics difficult to understand.
Other Benefits of Educational Movies
Visual learners easily digest them. If you’re having trouble with your student retaining information on your lesson, a visual representation will be an exciting aide to help to capture their attention.
See different perspectives of a historical event. Sometimes, history can be complex to follow with different states, countries, armies, and historical figures. It gets confusing trying to figure out who’s who, where, why, and how. Movies can simplify the process.
Evoke an emotional reaction. Emotional reactions help retain memories, help your student remember what the lesson was about, and have your students wanting to make a change.
Movies create awareness. Sometimes certain lessons in history, such as segregation and racism, are difficult to discuss. Instead, show your students the issue at hand through a movie.
Other Types of Movies to Consider
Aside from documentary-like educational movies, there are several other movie types and lessons to consider playing on movie nights.
Building Character
As stated before, some movies aren’t educational but can teach an important lesson regarding character building.
Some character-building movies for younger children include Disney-Pixar’s Cars or the Emperors New Groove. Both of the movies teach that friends are more important than our ego.
If you are looking for a movie for an older teen that helps build character, consider Remember The Titans; this movie focuses a lot on race and seeing past the color of our skin. We can all be on the same team because “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
The last movie on our list of character building for your educational movie night is Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. This movie is a good lesson on standing up for what’s right and against evil forces. (Harry Potter and The Sorceror’s Stone does this too!) It’s a great movie that also lightly touches on history and religion.
Be sure to have thorough discussions afterward on how the character’s changed throughout the movie.
Never be afraid to hit pause and discuss while watching a movie. If that movie becomes longer, it’s okay! Just enjoy the discussions along the way.
History-Themed
Depending on your homeschooling methods, I selected educational secular and religious history movies excellent for a family movie night. Please remember that these movies may not be completely factual. As such, remember to do thorough research to be aware of the actual events that appear in these movies.
History: Secular
Disney Movies have a great selection of history-themed movies like Pocahantas, Mulan, and Hercules. While they are not entirely factual, it is a good base for broader discussions with your kids.
Pocahontas teaches briefly about western settlement and colonization, appreciation for nature, and standing up for your beliefs. However, it certainly is not historically accurate or particularly reflective of modern concepts of indigenous peoples. So be warned!
An alternative to this for older kids and teens would be the Last of the Mohicans. This fictional movie still covers real fights and historical figures and represents a more accurate depiction of life. It is, however, rather graphic and not meant for younger audiences— still one of my all-time period pieces.
Mulan teaches about family honor, fighting for what you believe in, and that women are just as strong and capable as men. The movie setting is in 429 AD, during which China was in a war with the Mongolian state of Rouran.
Hercules teaches Greek mythology and the origin of Demi-God Hercules, the son of Zeus, and his life on Earth. Alternatively, Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a great modern learning choice for older kids and teens. This movie series can also be a great bridge to getting kids interested in reading. Many books in the Percy Jackson series delight and draw young readers in!
History: Religious – Christianity
First is one of my childhood favorites, the Prince of Egypt. This film’s adaption of the book of Exodus in the Bible follows Moses and the fight for justice for the Israelites and freeing them from slavery. In addition, you can pair this with some themed Exodus crafts.
Another good religious movie for family movie night would be Joseph: King of Dreams. This movie is based on the biblical story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. It is the prequel to the Prince of Egypt since the story of Joseph happens before Moses.
If you’re looking for movies for your teens, movies like these are a good place to start, but viewer discretion is advised.
Exodus: Gods and Kings. Like the Prince of Egypt, this movie covers the biblical story of Exodus and how Moses freed the Israelites from slavery.
The Passion of the Christ. This movie depicts Jesus’ crucifixion in the New Testament of the Bible.
Noah. This movie covers the story of Noah’s Ark, from the criticism he faced, building the ark, living on the ark, and the aftermath and finding land.
If you’re looking for a more humorous and lighthearted take on some biblical stories, consider Evan Almighty, a story of Noah, or Bruce Almighty, a story about God’s presence and grace in our lives. For the older teen, the oldie but goodie Oh God! You Devil is also fun.
Science
By far, one of the best science movies of all time for younger kids is Osmosis Jones. I’ve never been a big fan of science, but this movie truly changed the game. This movie teaches about hygiene and how your immune system works with medicine. It’s exciting and funny, and your child will learn NEVER to pick food up from the floor.
For older children, consider The Martian, Contact, or From the Earth to the Moon for Space Exploration and discovery! For Mathematics,
What’s a themed movie night without some themed practices and snacks? Be sure to have your child wash their hands thoroughly before grabbing their Box of Boogers.
Another fun movie for kids is the science-fantasy movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire. This story is about searching for Atlantis and saving it from greedy explorers who want to profit from their research.
For older kids and teens, movies like Back to the Future and E.T. are great science fiction classics to watch.
Back to the Future features Marty McFly, a time-traveling teenager that must ensure that his teenage parents meet and fall in love so that he can return to the future.
E.T. the Extra Terrestial is another fun science fiction movie about two children that find an alien, E.T., and fight to protect it from deadly science experiments and find a way to get him back home.
Get Creative for Family Movie Night
No matter the topic, you can always find a way to sneak in a lesson into your family movie night while keeping it fun. Choose one of these themed movies for your next educational family movie night.