70 Best Summer Movies for Kids

Summer is made for days at the pool, the beach, or summer camp — or, when none of those is possible, for watching movies about hitting the pool, going to the beach, or attending summer camp. With that in mind, here’s a list of the 70 best summer movies for kids, a selection of films set during the year’s haziest days or in tropical locales ideal for summer viewing. Who can resist the ease of throwing on a movie when it's just too hot or rainy to enjoy life outside?

Many of these movies about summer have a greater message about friendship, family, or coming of age, and we love that kids can learn while being entertained. Plus, you can still say your kids' summer was educational.

Some of the coming-of-age tales mentioned here may be more appropriate for older preteens and teens; when that applies, that is duly noted. Also, with one exception, no R-rated flicks made the cut. Kids, when you’re a little older, you’ll get to watch Meatballs and National Lampoon’s Vacation.

We promise.

This lands at No. 1 because it meets the classic kids' summer movie requirements: It’s partly set at summer camp, it’s light, and it’s innocent enough to be enjoyed by a variety of ages. And for those young ones who can’t be convinced to watch a movie from the 1960s, there’s always the 1998 remake.

Pets need a summer break too! In The Secret Life of Pets, Max meets his owner's new dog, Duke, and he has difficult adjusting. Luckily, the pair is able to team up to save a bunny, Snowball, from some neighborhood troublemakers.

Yes, this is the one R-rated movie on this list, which earned that MPAA rating because of foul language and the plotline’s preoccupation with finding the body of a dead child. If your middle schoolers and high schoolers seem mature enough to handle it, though, do show them this sublime coming-of-age film; watching it has become a necessary rite of passage in itself.

We don’t necessarily think of this as a summer movie, but with its road trip, sunny skies, and camp out featuring the vocal stylings of Gonzo, it actually qualifies as a pretty great one in our book.

MORE: 50 Greatest Kids' Movies of All Time

Given the focus on Nemo’s first day of school, it seems fair to assume the greatest clownfish movie of all time doesn’t take place during the summer. But with those vibrant coral reefs and all that beautiful ocean blue, summer sure seems like a great time to revisit Marlin and his flipper-challenged son.

It's a film that’s still enormously beloved and often considered one of the best movies for tweens, and a reminder of a time when summer was all about searching for buried treasure with kids named Chunk and Data.

A coming-of-age flick about boys who spend the summer of 1962 trying to hit line drives and catch pop-flies, The Sandlot has some fervent fans. Presumably some of those fans will relish the opportunity to share this comedy with their kids and also considered one of the best movies for tweens.

As far as movies about summer goes, this is one of the ultimate classics. One of the biggest box office successes from the summer of ‘84, it opens with Daniel LaRusso’s summertime move to California and features enough beach-y imagery—including that unforgettable Pacific-side crane kick—to make it an ideal summer watch.

MORE: The Worst Lifetime Movie Titles of All Time

The Peanuts gang goes to camp and competes in an intense river rafting race in this ‘77 feature, one of the few Charlie Brown efforts to merit a theatrical release.

A contender for the best in the Hotel Transylvania series, Hotel Tranylvania 3: Summer Vacation is a great feel-good summer movie for preschoolers and toddlers. This version follows up with Drac, Mavis, Johnny on a summer cruise to Atlantis, complete with a dreamy summer romance and a great soundtrack.

A high school baseball coach finally gets his chance at the big leagues in this G-rated Disney charmer starring Dennis Quaid.

Released in the summer of ‘85, this road trip adventure can still teach new generations important lessons about the Alamo’s lack of a basement, as well as the value of the phrase “I know you are, but what am I?”

The Toy Story franchise always gets it right and this final installment of the series may just be the best one yet. When a new toy, "Forky" is added to the crew before a long road trip, Woody, Buzz and the gang must work together once again to help rescue a missing toy. Great lessons and a heartwarming story make for one classic summer movie that kids of all ages will love.

Ann Brashares’s novel spawned this film about four Maryland girls who swap the same pair of magical jeans while spending their summers in various corners of the globe.

MORE: 50 Greatest Chick Flicks of All Time

An Indiana high school grad focuses his summer energy on cycling in this Academy Award nominee that may pique the interest of older kids who also love to hop on their bikes and just go.

This funny, wonderfully observant coming-of-age film perfectly captures the awkward awakenings that often accompany vacations spent in beach cottages (where there are people from whom teens are desperate to escape). This one is more for the tween to teen crowd.

Celebrate the good old-fashioned American road trip with this Pixar favorite; in which Lightning McQueen gets his kicks on Route 66.

Watch this tearjerking baseball fairy tale with your kids, dry your eyes, and then go outside in that warm summer air and have a catch.

Are your kids interested in surfing and surfer culture? Then you simply must show them the quintessential documentary about the majesty of catching a wave.

Rango is a chameleon who is distanced from being a family pet and now needs to figure out his true identify. He is soon put in a role to learn how to come into his own. A summer adventure that teaches a life lesson is always a plus.

Long before the Griswolds struggled to reach Wally World, there was Jimmy Stewart, encountering one frustration after the other in his seemingly futile attempt to enjoy some time at the shore.

The stunning shots of that island where Kelly Reno bonds with his ebony, equine friend add up to some of the most beautiful tropical imagery ever captured in a mainstream film.

Maybe it’s because this John Hughes classic made its theatrical debut in the month of June, just as schools were letting out for summer. Or maybe it’s the fact that it’s set on one gloriously sunny Illinois day. Whatever the reason, even though Ferris’s day off happens in the spring, everything about it feels like summer.

Ah, there’s nothing like young love. And there’s really nothing like it when it’s captured with all the meticulous quirkiness of filmmaker Wes Anderson. (Note: best for high schoolers and very mature middle schoolers.)

Dubbed the female version of Stand By Me, much of the movie consists of a flashback to the summer of 1970, when four girlfriends attempt to solve a mystery and forge lifetime bonds.

This animated feature may not have been as well-received as other penguin-related films. But it’s the only one in which penguins surf.

MORE: Classic Movies Your Kids Will Like

Summer is really the most appropriate time to implant the earworm that is “Under the Sea” into all of your beloved offspring.

Mature preteens and teens will appreciate the authenticity and humor in this flashback to 1962, when an entire early summer night could be spent doing nothing but cruisin’.

Technically, this colorful animated macaw adventure doesn’t take place in the summertime, but with so much of the action focused on birds with bright hues and Brazil’s eye-popping Carnival celebration, it certainly feels right to watch it in the during the hot summer months.

Even though it smacks of the ‘80s—see Diane Court’s graduation party dress, or Lloyd Dobler’s Red Hot Chili Peppers cassette—high schoolers will still relate to the sense of uncertainty that accompanies commencement, as well as the rush that comes with the blossoming of first love.

So the kids can’t handle the randy camp counselors of Meatballs. It’s still possible to introduce them to the American treasure that is Bill Murray by watching this PG-rated comedy, in which Murray’s Bob wrecks Richard Dreyfuss’s attempt to vacation by the lake.

We all know what happens to Macaulay Culkin in this one, yes? Therefore, watch with older kids; it’s a sappy-sweet summer movie, but also one in which a young girl (Anna Chlumsky) deals with some tough emotional stuff.

Matt Dillon gets a summer job at a New York beach resort and learns some valuable lessons about the allure of easy money. This is another one best for older middle schoolers and teens.

The story of a girl and her alien pal turns into something irresistibly tropical thanks to this animated feature's Hawaiian setting.

Some of the subject matter, not to mention the excessive grinding between Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, make this more appropriate for high schoolers. But there are lessons to be learned here, like, be honest with your father. Also: don’t carry a watermelon to a sexy dance party.

Because your kids deserve to see at least one summer movie about the bond between a child and the dog she discovers in a supermarket.

At a performing arts camp, a bunch of teens get mired in personal drama while trying to depict pretend drama onstage. A fun one for older preteens and high schoolers already bitten by the theater bug, or curious to see Anna Kendrick before she became Bella’s BFF in the Twilight movies.

Introduce your children to French cinema and the charms of slapstick comedy via this lauded entry in the classic summer genre known as Vacations That Go Comically Awry.

Your kids aren’t old enough to handle Jaws. In the meantime, you can always watch this shark story featuring the voices of Jack Black and Robert De Niro. (FYI: You are not going to need a bigger boat.)

Spike Lee captures the vibe of summers past in this nostalgia trip back to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn circa the 1970s.

In J.J. Abrams’s homage to ‘70s-era Steven Spielberg, a group of preteen friends try to make a horror movie in a time before Flip cams and cell phone video. Despite the Spielberg connection, this is no E.T.</em>; some moments are genuinely frightening and most appropriate for preteens and teens.