Thanksgiving Movies for Kids Ages 4–8, Grouped by Age and Rating

The best Thanksgiving movies for kids, grouped by age

Short answer: Short TV specials, like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Garfield's Thanksgiving, are the usual first Thanksgiving movies. Free Birds, rated PG, is a full-length animated film about the holiday. The original Miracle on 34th Street opens at the Thanksgiving Day parade. Every child is different, so go by your child rather than a number.

The groups below are based on two things: the MPA rating, and the content notes published by the BBFC, the UK's film classifier. The BBFC describes specific scenes, which the MPA usually doesn't, so its notes are quoted wherever they exist.

• Short specials. Under about an hour, made for TV or home video.
• Full-length films, G or PG. Several have action, peril, or thematic content, so read each note below.
• Thanksgiving movies for grown-ups. Comedies, dramas, and one horror film rated PG-13 or R.

Many TV specials have no MPA rating at all, because the MPA rates films, not TV programs. For those, we give the BBFC rating or the streaming service's TV rating where one exists.

Thanksgiving specials for 4-year-olds: short and gentle

Short answer: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Garfield's Thanksgiving each run under half an hour, and the BBFC rated the Peanuts special U. Short specials are easy to finish before dinner or bedtime.

• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973). A TV special, so it has no MPA rating. The BBFC rated it U and lists it at about 25 minutes. Peppermint Patty invites herself to Charlie Brown's for Thanksgiving, two friends follow, and he has to feed them all. The BBFC notes "comic slapstick, including Snoopy fighting a deck chair," and a character who "uses outdated language to refer to Native Americans." It streams with an Apple TV subscription, formerly Apple TV+ (checked October 2026).
• Garfield's Thanksgiving (1989). A CBS special, about 24 minutes. After a visit to the vet, Garfield is put on a diet, and Jon's holiday dinner for the vet, Liz, goes badly until Grandma arrives.
• The Mouse on the Mayflower (1968). An NBC special, about 45 minutes, narrated by Tennessee Ernie Ford. A church mouse who stows away on the Mayflower helps the ship through a storm and sees the first Thanksgiving.
• Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures, "Mickey's Thanksgiving Fun Race! / Happy Thanksgiving Helpers." A Thanksgiving episode, rated TV-Y on Disney+. Mickey and his friends celebrate Thanksgiving in two short stories.
• Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999). A home-video film made of three episodes of the Pooh TV series, including a Thanksgiving story in which Pooh and his friends gather food for a feast. It isn't listed in the MPA database. The BBFC rated it U, with "no material likely to offend or harm," at about 61 minutes.

Watch together the first time, and agree before you start that your child can say "pause" at any time.

Thanksgiving specials about the Pilgrims

Short answer: A few specials tell the story of the Mayflower and the 1621 harvest feast. They're gentle, but they include hardship, and older ones show Native people in ways that are now considered outdated.

• This Is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers (1988). The first episode of a Peanuts miniseries made for CBS. Charlie Brown and his friends sail on the Mayflower to Plymouth, where many colonists die during the first winter. In the spring, Samoset and Squanto teach the Pilgrims how to grow food in their new home, which leads to the first Thanksgiving. It's a TV episode, so it has no MPA rating.
• The Mouse on the Mayflower (1968), listed above, tells the same voyage from a mouse's point of view.

If your child asks whether these stories really happened, it may help to say that the Mayflower voyage and the 1621 feast were real, and that cartoons leave a lot out. A child who is curious can learn more from a picture book or a museum website made for children.

Disney's Pocahontas (1995), rated G, sometimes appears on Thanksgiving movie lists, but it isn't a Thanksgiving story. The real Pocahontas died in 1617, four years before the harvest feast at Plymouth.

Good Thanksgiving movies for kids 5 to 8: G and PG

Short answer: Free Birds and the two Miracle on 34th Street films are the gentlest full-length picks here. Squanto: A Warrior's Tale has the most violence in this group, so it may be worth previewing before watching with a younger child. Free Birds is the only animated film; the others are live action.

• Free Birds (2013). Rated PG "for some action/peril and rude humor," about 91 minutes. Two turkeys travel back in time to the 17th century to take turkey off the Thanksgiving menu. The BBFC rated it U. It notes turkeys "chased by snarling dogs," and says such scenes "are always quickly resolved." It also notes that "a human character suddenly keels over and dies" and that an older turkey sacrifices himself to save young turkeys and eggs, and that "nothing is actually shown." Language is limited to "bleeding" and "heck."
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Released before the MPA rating system, so it has no MPA rating. About 96 minutes. The story begins on the morning of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, when a man named Kris Kringle replaces the parade's drunk Santa. The BBFC rated it U, with "no material likely to offend or harm."
• Miracle on 34th Street (1994). Rated PG "for some mild language," about 114 minutes. A remake in which Kris Kringle steps in as Santa at a department store's Thanksgiving parade. The BBFC rated it U and lists "very mild bad language," such as "numb nuts" and "butt."
• Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994). Rated PG "for action violence," about 102 minutes. It's on this list because Squanto is the man who later helped the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In this Disney film, he is kidnapped and taken to England, where he is forced to fight a bear, and he returns home to find that his people have died from disease. It's the heaviest film in this group.
• The Great Turkey Town Miracle (2023). Rated PG "for some thematic elements," about 90 minutes. A faith-based drama about a former radio host who has to find 4,000 frozen turkeys for a homeless shelter's Thanksgiving.

The two Miracle on 34th Street films are also Christmas movies. Our list of Christmas movies for kids groups December's titles the same way.

Thanksgiving movies that aren't made for young children

Short answer: Several of the most famous Thanksgiving movies are rated PG-13 or R. They're often on TV in November, so it's worth checking before a young child watches.

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987). Rated R; no reason is listed on filmratings.com for this 1987 rating. See the FAQ below for what the BBFC notes.
• Addams Family Values (1993). Rated PG-13 "for macabre humor." At summer camp, Wednesday is cast as Pocahontas in a Thanksgiving play, and the play ends in chaos. The BBFC rated it PG, with "mild fantasy violence and scary scenes."
• Dutch (1991). Rated PG-13; no reason is listed on filmratings.com. A man drives his girlfriend's son home to Chicago for Thanksgiving.
• Home for the Holidays (1995). Rated PG-13 "for thematic material, language and brief drug use."
• Pieces of April (2003). Rated PG-13 "for language, sensuality, drug content and images of nudity."

R-rated horror, not for children

• Thanksgiving (2023). A slasher horror film, not a family movie, even though it shares the holiday's name. Rated R "for strong bloody horror violence and gore, pervasive language and some sexual material." The BBFC rated it 18 and describes it as a "gleefully bloody slasher film."

PG-13 means parents are strongly cautioned that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. R means restricted: under 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian. For the full wording, see PG-13 and rated R.

Turning a Thanksgiving movie into a talk about who made things happen

Short answer: Many Thanksgiving movies are about a meal someone worked hard to make. That gives you an easy question for afterward: who made it happen?

In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown, Linus, and Snoopy make a dinner of toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks, jelly beans, and sundaes. In Garfield's Thanksgiving, Grandma saves the meal. In Free Birds, the turkeys spend the whole film trying to change what's on the table.

After the movie, try one or two of these:

• "Who made the dinner in the movie?" Then: "Who will make our dinner on Thursday?"
• "What did they do to get ready?" Shopping, cooking, setting the table.
• "What job could you do?" Folding napkins or putting out the rolls.

"What are you thankful for?" asks about something abstract and can be hard for young children to answer. "Who did something good for you today?" is often easier, because it's about a person they can name. Our guide to gratitude activities for kids has more ideas that work for this age.

How to watch a Thanksgiving movie together

Watching together may change how a sad or tense scene feels for a young child. Three simple habits may help.

Agree on a pause. Before you start, tell your child they can say "pause" at any time. Knowing they can stop the movie may give a child some control.

Check the weather inside. At a tense or sad moment, like the turkey's sacrifice in Free Birds or the hard first winter in The Mayflower Voyagers, pause and ask: "What's the weather inside you right now? Sunny, cloudy, or stormy?" Naming a feeling may help some children step back from it. In our program, this is the lesson "Weather Inside."

Notice that it passes. After a sad scene, point out that the feeling came up and went back down, often by the next funny moment. That's "The Wave," another lesson in our program: big feelings rise and pass.

Thanksgiving is a long day for children, with travel, guests, and a late meal. A short special in the afternoon may fit better than a full-length film in the evening. For another holiday, our list of Halloween movies for kids is sorted by how scary each one is.

What are good Thanksgiving movies for kids?

For the youngest viewers, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (about 25 minutes, rated U by the BBFC) and Garfield's Thanksgiving (about 24 minutes) are short and mostly comic. For 5- to 8-year-olds, Free Birds (PG for some action/peril and rude humor) is a full-length animated film about the holiday. Watch together the first time, so you can pause if a scene is too much.

What Thanksgiving movies for kids are on Netflix?

We couldn't confirm Free Birds or the Peanuts Thanksgiving specials on Netflix when we checked in October 2026: their Netflix US pages returned "page not found." The Peanuts specials, including A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, stream with an Apple TV subscription. Netflix's catalog changes by month and by country, and we name a service only after confirming a title on its own site. Search the title in the Netflix app to see what's on this year.

What Thanksgiving movies for kids are on Disney Plus?

Disney+ has the Thanksgiving episode of Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures, "Mickey's Thanksgiving Fun Race! / Happy Thanksgiving Helpers" (Season 1, Episode 7), rated TV-Y. That's what we could confirm on the Disney+ site in October 2026. Disney+ adds and removes titles, so search for "Thanksgiving" in the app before the holiday to see what else is on.

What is Free Birds rated?

Free Birds is rated PG "for some action/peril and rude humor." In the UK, the BBFC rated it U, for mild threat and slapstick and infrequent very mild language. The BBFC notes chases by snarling dogs that are "always quickly resolved," an older turkey who is implied to die saving young turkeys, and "very mild humour relating to the backsides of turkeys." It runs about 91 minutes.

Is Planes, Trains and Automobiles appropriate for kids?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is rated R, which means children under 17 need an accompanying parent or adult guardian. No reason is listed on filmratings.com for this 1987 rating. The BBFC, which rated it 15, notes one scene with "frequent use of strong language," sexual references, and adults smoking and drinking. It describes the tone as "light and comic," but it isn't a family film. Free Birds is a PG comedy about the same holiday.

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