When I want to teach my kids about the environment or animals, I turn to one of these good family movies about nature. I find that they relate better to the message I’m trying to get across when they see how it affects the characters in the film. I remember growing up watching Fern Gully, it was the first movie that taught me that we have to protect the environment and the creatures within it, but it did it in such a funny way that I didn’t realize I was learning. Check out these good family movies about nature that will help your kids learn without even knowing it.
Related: Great Family Movies about Sports & Teamwork
Our 3 Favorite Good Family Movies about Nature
White Fang
White Fang is a 1991 adventure movie that is based on the 1906 novel of the same name by Jack London. The movie has one sequel: the 1994 White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf. It stars Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ethan Hawke, Seymour Cassel and Jed the Wolf Dog, as White Fang. Jack is a young gold hunter who is searching for gold in Alaska. One day, Jack saves a dog-wolf from a mean man, and the two develop a bond. The dog-wolf name is White Fang and later is he taken from Jack, to be part of a dog-fighting ring, turning him into a killer. One day, Jack and White Fang meet again and bond again instantly. When criminals want to steal Jack’s Gold, White Fang is the only one who can fight them off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpmmN53qaBo
Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest
Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest is a 1992 animated fantasy environmental film that is adapted from the 1977 book of the same name by Diana Young. It features the voices of Johnathan Ward, Samantha Mathis, Tim Curry, Christian Slater, Robin Williams, Grace Zabriskie, Geoffrey Blake and Robert Pastorelli. Fern Gully is a rainforest where a group of fairies lives. The fairies have never laid eyes on humans until one of the fairies leaves the rainforest and discovers humans. She meets Zak, a man who is part of the crew destroying the rainforest, whom she accidentally shrinks. What happens when the humans release an evil creature upon Fern Gully?
Wild America
Wild America is a 1997 adventure comedy movie starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa, and Scott Bairstow. Wild America tells the tale of the Stouffer brothers: Mark, Marty and Marshall. They aren’t interested in being a part of the family business: auto parts hawking business. So, the three brothers set out on a dangerous camping adventure across the country, with the goal of filming their encounters with wild animals.
More great family movies about nature
- A Bug’s Life- explores nature on a macro-level, teaching kids about the world of insects
- Finding Nemo- kids will learn about the Great Barrier Reef and undersea nature
- Madagascar- explores one of the most fascinating and diverse islands, yet in a totally silly and fun way
- Winged Migration- one of my all-time favorite documentaries! This is a great nature movie to put on for little ones; they’ll love the soothing sights and sounds.
- Swiss Family Robinson- a classic film that shows how to use nature to survive
- The Monkey Kingdom– fantastic documentary look into the lives of a chimp family
- Disneynature Bears – an up-close look at an Alaskan bear family
- Hoot- a fun film that also teaches kids about owl preservation
- Free Willy- a classic from our generation, teaches kids about respecting marine life
- Eight Below- a heart-clenching adventure film about sled dogs in Antarctica and the bond between man and dog.
This is subject very near to mine and my mother’s heart. It is soooooo important to teach our kids to value nature and take care of our planet. Thank you sharing!
I have seen almost all of these except Disneynature Bears. I will add that to my list. MY son loves them!
Ferngully is a still a favorite of mine. I love the message that it sends and it is such a well put together animation.
I just purchased Fern Gully last week but haven’t opened it yet. I use to watch it when I was a kid and wanted to share with my kids. I remember a few others on this list too. I think it’s time for a movie night
Nature is God’s wonderful gift & it is very important that our kids know its value. I have not watched most of these movies, but would add them to my list to make sure I watch them with my kids.
A great list of movies. There are a few on there that we haven’t seen, but for the most part we have seen most of them.
Family movie nights are a great way to gather together and these options are perfect. These are certainly hits from my childhood as well!
What a great pick of movies and i would love to watch the wild america good for my kids.
These are a great selection of movies for kiddos. We have seen most of these but going to have to watch the rest.
Our family loves being out in nature. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of these movies. The only one we’ve seen is Madagascar.
My daughter loves animals, I can’t wait to show her some of these animal movies.
Excellent list of movies. Always good to include learning into fun time. Kids never notice anyway, and always learn cool stuff.
I haven’t thought of some of these movies in years! Great list!
These are great movies. My kids loved Fern Gully The Last Rainforest . They used to watch it over and over.
We haven’t seen these movies yet. Thanks for the list. Sounds like they are must-see movies. We’re going to check them out.
What a great list of movies. I think white fang was a good movie for the family. Gonna check this out
What a great list! I remember watching several of these movies as a kid. I will check each one, I want my kids see them too. Thanks for sharing!
Fern Gilly was one of my favorite movies growing up!! I actually saw that it was on Netflix a while ago and my niece watched it and loves it now!!
These are some great choices. My kids loved Ferngully and A Bug’s Life. We’ve missed out on a lot of the others!
A lot of these movies were favorites of mine growing up. My kids have seen only a handful of them
These movies are fantastic. These will be a great tool to teach kids about the environment.
Homeward Bound is a movie I loved. It has beautiful nature shots and of course, it is about dogs! Fern Gully is also good, actually every movie in your list is worth watching!
I love Fern Gully! I think it is so important to teach our kids about nature early on. It is such an important part of life and learning to be responsible for our earth.
I watched white thing when I was a child. It taught me a lot and I’m glad that I saw it. I need to show my son some of these movies!
What a great list of nature friendly movies! I forgot about White Fang! And my kids love the movie Ferngully.
I will have to show these to my kids. They are all really great suggestions.
We haven’t seen any of these movies although we love movies that involves nature. I’ll check those out.
Fern Gully is one of my favorite movies for myself and for the kids. It has beautiful animation, and it shows how important the world’s rainforests are.