My 4 y/o little girl is obsessed with outerspace and has a birthday coming up. She's seen Zuthura, Planet 51, and Mars Needs Moms. Any other outspace/alien movies out there for kids? She's not frazzled by scary stuff at all but obviously it needs to be child-friendly.
Apollo 13
My son LOVES Apollo 13. He's 7 now but he's been watching it for a couple of years.
Magic School Bus Lost in Space.
When we left earth ( NASA documentary)
Hubble
Just had to leave another vote for Space camp! I was so obsessed my parents sent me to the real space camp twice. One of the best experiences I ever had.
Also, another vote for Last Starfighter and the original Star Wars which has very few scary parts.
I used to love the movie space camp.
Nearly all mine are below!!! (in other posts. Also Explorers, & StarWars / StarTrek.) ironically, what got me into reading was a single (oft repeated) line from Space Camp: "I read it in a book." Oy. Kids. YEARS my mum spent trying to foster a live of reading, and one "I wanna be like her!" moment on a TV movie sealed the deal.
There are also a lot of individual space episodes of kids TV. Kipper, Phineas & Ferb, In Between the Lions, Sesame Street, etc. having a long reel of these episodes strung together could be cool... And they'd have great stopping points every 15-30 minutes.
Similarly... Check out NASA. You can buy mission badges for a couple bucks. Makes GREAT party favors. And stores now carry applesauce in screwtop bags. I have no idea the name... We just call them 'Astronaut Applesauce'.
Not for the party... My then 4/5yo got obsessed with the History Channel's "The Universe" (streamable now!!! We wore out our DVDs), and Carl Sagan's classic Cosmos. I'd do H's Universe first because it's in small segments with GREAT graphics. I'll never forget my 5yo hopping up and running to tell the world (me, neighbors, anyone he could share with that it only takes 8 seconds for light to reach the earth from the sun. Ahem. Only reason I know that, by the way.
For music... Check out www.symphonyofscience.com. Our favorites are "We are all Connected... To each other biologically, to the earth atomically, to the rest of the universe atomically" (2nd from bottom)... And the bottom I e.... If you want to bake an apple pie from scratch... You must first... Invent the universe."
We took our daughter to the Kansas Cosmosphere when she was 4 and we watched the IMAX movie about the Hubble Telescope, narrated by Leo DeCaprio. I think it's out on DVD now, and she loved it. I thought she'd be bored but she talked forever about going to the space museum and seeing the movie about outer space.
ET
Wall-E
The Last Starfighter
Flight of the Navigator
Aliens in the Attic
A few Tim Allen ones come to mind. Galaxy Quest and Zoom. Zoom is more of a Super heroes with a "the one guy goes into space and comes back" theme. Not sure what they are rated, but the super hero kid one is about kids and how they become a family of sorts. Cute!
my son loves the Space Chimps movies :) and this is around the age my son started liking like Star Wars and more "grownup" movies (with discretion of course). it was great to watch something besides cartoons! but definitely check out Space Chimps and Space Chimps II (II is of course not near as good but 4 year olds are not that picky). enjoy! (PS, i love Planet 51!) OH also my son loves Atlantis and Atlantis II (my son also loves space movies so that might catch her interest too) and Avatar.....
One of my favorites was "Flight of the Navigator" from Walt Disney. You can get it on Amazon for less than $10.
Then there is the "Star Wars" series. I like the first three the best.
Good luck to you and yours.
Why not some non-fiction videos for kids about real space, and not just science fiction? Your local library should have kids' science videos in its children's section and I'm sure they will have age-appropriate videos about the solar system and other aspects of space. Also, are you getting out library books for her about space, astronauts, etc.? There are TONS of kids' books (yes, even for those as young as four and five) about space facts, with lots of great illustrations. Ask a children's librarian for help. Getting her interested in the real science now is easy because it's all fun to her! Many young kids are really into the planets and solar system facts. The fun films are great but it's also a chance to introduce her to science -- you're never too young for that!
How about Space Dogs? My 4 yo loves this movie...it is a little long...2ish hours...but is about dogs being trained to go into space. Based on Russia Space Dogs in the 1950s. It's a cute movie for kids, teaches them something, and has a good soundtrack :)
I don't know if you have seen the orginal Star Wars but we watch that serious in our house with the girls. My 5 year old loves them. They were made in the 70's and 80's so not bad at all!
Monsters vs. Aliens
ET
Star Wars
Eventually, Men in Black--I would wait til she was a bit older, maybe about 8
Batteries Not Included
Gremlins
What about 'The NeverEnding Story'? That is kinda space-y?
Fly Me to the Moon, Space Buddies, Pigs in Space
Contact with Jody Foster ... SUPERB movie. Although it's pretty long and involved.
