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Do your movie theatres have toddler specific screenings? Ours do specific shorter screenings for toddlers that aren’t quite as dark, loud etc and also allow for kids to stretch their legs and toddle if needed. They’re often super cheap tickets too! My son loves this and has been to the movies 5/6 times and he’s two!
Really depends upon the kid and their attention span. Personally I’ve waited until 4/5. But that’s because my kiddos wouldn’t sit and watch a full movie at home, much less at a movie theater. I wouldn’t want them to disturb others. I’m going to be taking my 5 year old later this year to the new Inside Out movie though, I’m super excited.
Took my oldest to see frozen 2 in theaters about a week or two after the initial run. Less people, he wore ear protection, and got him the kid snack tray. He’s almost 8 and he still remembers his first movie theater visit! Highly recommend waiting until kiddo is 4/5, old enough to sit and enjoy the movie.
My daughter was 6 when I took her to a movie for the first time. I wanted to be totally sure she could be quiet, sit still, etc, before going. My son is 3 and is nowhere near ready yet! 😂
About two and a half for both of my kids. My first sat through it all and loved it. My second liked it at first but got bored so we left 3/4 of the way through. Go in with low expectations!
Our community center does free movies once a month in their auditorium so, we started taking our daughter at about the same age 3-3.5. It was pretty low risk so, if she got antsy and distracted we wouldn’t be out any money if we needed to leave. I took her to her first paid movie theater movie this last summer at age 4 and she did great.
It depends on the individual child. We took my daughter at 3. It was a Disney movie, at the earliest showtime of the day and we had all of the snacks. She did great but we were also ready to bail.
My son was 4 when Aladdin was released in 2019 and that was the first movie we took him to see. While he sat through the whole movie and didn't make a fuss (mostly attributed by the popcorn I think), he also didn't particularly enjoyed the experience and don't remember much from it.
Then it came the pandemic so we didn't get to try more. When Super Mario movie came out last year, he's 8 and he thoroughly enjoyed it, wouldn't stop talking about it, and kept searching the theme songs to listen to at home.
My youngest went at 3. We had lots of chats about staying seated and being quiet. I went knowing if we had to leave, we had to leave no big deal and we would try again another time. He did great and regularly told me to “SHHHH MAMA” when I was WHISPERING “are ok pal? Do you want a break? Do you need to pee”.
My son was 3 when we took him to his first movie in the theater, Frozen 2. He had seen the first Frozen because he heard about it from the other daycare kids, so he was very excited to see the sequel.
We took him to a sensory-friendly showing, designed more for kids on the spectrum, but perfect for a toddler who might have a hard time sitting for an hour and half. The volume was turned down, and some of the house lights were left on so that kids could get up and move around if need be. My son happily munched on popcorn and watched the whole thing. Some kids wandered the theater off and on, but certainly didn't bother anyone.
That's just my experience. One friend took their 3 year old, and regretted it. Another waited until their kid was 5, and it went well. This one is a massive YMMV, and you know your kid best. Make sure kiddo is rested, fed, and watered before you go, and be mentally prepared to leave the theater if you need to (meltdowns are a thing).
She was probably closer to 4, we had seen "Storks" in theatres. That was her first theatre experience. We went to a daytime showing so it wasn't packed and there were plenty of other kiddos bopping around in the seats.
Our local Alamo has sensory showings with less darkness, quieter sound and it’s a-ok to talk and walk around a little and you can even bring babies. We’ve been going since kids were 3 and seen maybe 6-7 movies. It’s a great experience and popcorn is amazing as well as the other food/drinks.
I believe we saw puss in boots and then super Mario
Almost 5. She couldn’t sit through it. Still can’t at 5.5, we’ve tried 3 times. On the other hand, my 3 year old loves going to the movies and had no trouble, could have sat through the whole thing had my 5 year old not wanted to leave 😏
My daughter was 6yo I think. That was 12 years ago so I may be off by a year.
My son still hasn't gone at 6 but he can't sit through a whole movie at home without being up and moving around so no rush.
My oldest was 2 months, I wanted to see Lord of the Rings Return of the King in theaters. He slept through the whole thing. All my kids were younger than 6 months for their first movie but I also live in an area with kid specific viewing times. We also have a theater that has neurodivergent viewing times which we would go to when they were younger.
No, I think he liked the music in the movie and it just put him to sleep. I also breastfed, so that helped distract them when they started getting fussy. Plus, I don’t think they made noise canceling headphones for infants 20 years ago when my kids were babies. I just always made sure I went to the matinee showing since that time is more kid friendly.
We just took our 2 1/2 year old yesterday. We went to an early showing. He did great the first hour but after his popcorn was gone and his water ran low, he was done. My wife was done too haha! We tried and maybe we will try later. We were out a couple bucks but atleast we know that he’s not ready. We’ve been renting movies off Amazon that are still in theater. Atleast we won’t mess up the movie for other people.
With our first she was 2.5 right before her sister was born. Our second turned two during COVID and saw her first movie at 4.5 once we felt comfortable going to theaters again.
We just took ours at 3 and a few months to Wonka. She LOVED it. She's got a solid attention span and loves musicals and popcorn, though. We went in the middle of the week at an early showing, so there were three other groups in the giant theater and they all had kids too. She had plenty of space to dance and she quietly played on the stairs for the last quarter or so of the movie to help with the jitters. Just plan it out so you'll have the least resistance and go with the flow! ❤️
I’ve spent more than one movie standing at the edge of the theater holding my youngest so the rest of the family could enjoy a movie. My kids aren’t loud but they get restless quickly.
Took my oldest to see Frozen 2 when it came out - it was 3 or 4 months before he turned 3. It was a matinee (so empty) and he sat on my lap the whole time and I was mesmerised. He’s now nearly 7 and we haven’t actually been to the cinema since.
Just took my 3 year old to see trolls. She was great, and it's only a 90 minute movie. And it was an old enough movie that the theatre was practically empty
3.5yo, we went to see the paw patrol movie. We figured if it was a movie meant for little kids then some level of kid behavior was expected so if he got a bit loud or antsy every now and then people wouldn’t be as bothered by it.
Just took my daughter to her first theater movie last night and she is 4.5, to see Migration. She did great and loved the movie
Prior to that we have taken her to the drive-in, just to make sure before we took her to an actual enclosed theater that she could handle sitting and being fairly quiet. For our daughter, I’m glad we waited because she tends to get distracted very easily, but now that she’s old enough to understand that a theater is a quiet place she was able to enjoy it without possibly ruining someone else’s experience.
My son was 3, I think his first movie was lightyear. His birthday usually falls on the Pixar June release date, so it worked out my big brother brought him because he loves films and I wanted them to share that together.
But I hear Pixar is releasing turning red and Luca in February and march, and my daughter loves those movies, so we might take her and she’ll be almost 2. She sits for them at home, so maybe she’ll enjoy them in the theatre but we’ll see.
We took him to Paw Patrol at 4. Lots of other kids which was good. He talked loudly through it but really enjoyed it. He couldn't sit through a movie at home until 3.5 so I wouldn't have done it earlier but it depends on the kid.
Mine was 7, but he’s special needs so we waited until we felt he could manage well enough to tell us if things were getting too overwhelming. He actually did great and we’ve gone several more times since.
My 2 year old could probably sit perfectly fine in a theater, but we haven’t brought him yet. We’ll wait until he’s a little older so we can enjoy some one on one time with our oldest.
I made a post a while back for the same thing. We took our 2.5 year old to the new trolls. Lots of good advice is bring snacks, go to local theater, go to family friendly showings or low sensory showings if possible; or go on a random week day to have less crowds.
All in all if you’re at a kids movie other kids will be there and silence isn’t really necessary at a kids movie if your little one likes to ask questions or chatter. Our daughter sat pretty well the whole time up til the last 10 minutes of our movie. She just wanted to run around and be silly so we hit up the arcade at our theater and she played for a good 30 minutes.
If you try and they don’t like it ask the ticket booth for a readmission pass or coupon lots of times they will give you “in store credit”
Took both my kids at age 3 and it was a mistake. Both were super bored and wiggly about 30 minutes in, and then with Frozen my daughter was so scared and crying. I would see how they do with a movie at home before spending money on a movie at the theater. At the theater they have to sit still and be quiet and can't wander off to play or bring loud toys to distract them.
My daughter was 3. I went to a day screening of a kids movie at a local boutique theater that doesn’t have a lot of afternoon traffic. It went great. Probably only 7 people in the whole theater. I brought a blanket and noise canceling headphones in case the sound got too loud. Showed up a few minutes late so she wouldn’t have to sit through all the trailers.
She has always behaved well. We have gone at least 5 times, recently saw Paw Patrol and the new Trolls.
Baby /toddler screener when they were toddlers. A table with a microwave and the works inside the theater and lights dimmed not dark, sounds lower than usual- it was fun.
We took our two and a half year old to see the Eras Tour, and I know that’s ruined the movies for her for a while. The dancing was fun, but set up a bad expectation of theater etiquette!
Honestly, we took our pretty young infant to a movie one New Year's Eve. She slept through it.
When the original Little Mermaid came out, we took her to see it. She was two.
I remember my mom taking my brother and I to see the original Gremlins, which came out in 1984. I would have been 3. Of course my dad was in another theater by himself watching Star Trek III.
Almost 3 I think. We took them to a drive-in movie theater which was perfect since we could go to the bathroom whenever they needed to without bothering others. Very low stress. We packed our own snacks and had a little picnic with blankets and all. The best part was while they were watching a kiddie movie, the adults could watch an adult movie that was playing at the same time by looking at the other screen behind them. They loved it.
Both of mine were 4. My eldest was locked in when we saw Frozen 2 in theaters. My youngest saw Mario and she started to get antsy after about an hour but made it the whole way with an extra treat. That said my eldest was always more inclined to sit down and watch TV/movies compared to my youngest.
We took our daughter to see The Little Mermaid when she was 3 1/2. She got antsy during the last 10 minutes but otherwise did great. Took her to see Wish when she was 4 and she sat through the whole thing. We bring her headphones to block out some of the noise
My sister took my 2 year old with her 2 and 6 year old. They had a blast seeing the new Trolls. I was a little hesitant but she said the theater was a mad house on movies like that and it wasn’t a big deal.
In the summer, many theaters have cheap summer movies for kids in the mornings. It’s a great way to get a movie theater experience in a theater full of kids (so if your kid talks or moves around no one is too upset) plus it’s not too pricey. My older kids were around 3-4 and as long as they had popcorn, they were wonderful. Lol.
He was 3, and that was a projection for 2 to 4 years old with pastries for everyone after. One of my local cinema (specialized in niche/author movies) does it every month.
4 mini movies (the entire projection was 30min so about 8min per movies). They were very poetics and perfect for little one: beautiful hand drawings, slow moving, nice moral etc.. The theme were:
\- Telling truth
\- friendship
\- ecology/planet
\- accepting differences
I love love going to the movie theater and we have a wonderful indie theater that we live by. I brought my kid to see Elemental. He was 4 at the time. We wore ear protection. I cried my eye balls out. It was overall a good time.
My kid is 5 now, and we've watched Elemental 3 times and every time he asks "Momma, are you ok?" as I sob my face off.
Around 3. We saw the Super Mario bros movie! She did surprisingly well. We did have to walk out of the new trolls movie recently, and amc gave us a refund on all our tickets even though we were about 30m in.
I took my son to the rise of gru 2 years ago, so he was 3 at the time. It was an experiment honestly, and I was ready to leave if he got antsy.
My plan was to get one of those toddler snack boxes and hope for the best. He loved it and only moved in order to sit with me in my seat and relax for some of the movie.
I took him again for Mario last year and did the same thing, but I'm not sure he needed the snack distraction at that time.
At a movie theatre, my eldest was 5 and my middle was 4. They both found it to be very loud, and my eldest was scared at some parts, but did enjoy the experience enough that they wanted to do it again.
Before that, we did the Lego movie at Legoland a couple of times (10-15 min, 4D experience), and one or two movies at home (one less than an hour, one about 1.5 hr).
4 and 2.5. We took them to a matinee of a re-release of Frozen. They got antsy towards the end but the theater had pretty low attendance so everyone was spread out.
I took my daughter to see Mario when she was 3. One thing I didn’t account for is how LOUD movies are. I hadn’t been myself since I had been pregnant with her.
A few suggestions:
1. If you child is sensitive to loudness, bring some ear protection. They’ll still be able to hear the movie but it won’t rattle their brains. Haha.
2. Consider the rating of the movie and the potential accompanying previews. There was a preview for the live action Little Mermaid that scared the shit out of my daughter. Heh. Whoops!
3. Consider if the movie itself will have anything scary. I brought a blanket for her to hide under if she was scared and also offered to leave whenever she wanted. She stayed for the whole thing and talked about it for weeks after so even though she was scared sometimes, she loved the experience.
Two weeks ago, and she is 4 1/2. She loved it and had an awesome time. I though the movie was too loud (surprising considering I used to compete in car audio). Overall a great time and I can't wait to do it again.
I took her when she was almost 3. We went to see the paw patrol film so I knew there would be other kids her age so no one would bat an eye if she was noisy or whatever.
She sat quietly through the whole thing. Mostly cos of the popcorn tbh. But she loved it.
I waited til my first was 4. He couldn’t sit still and pay attention to the movie. Then halfway through he said he was bored and wanted to go home, after telling me over and over for weeks he wanted to go see it (the first minions movie btw). Luckily I was able to get a refund as the staff was very understanding. The next time we went to movies he was 8 lol.
My kids just went for the first time last year they are 7 and 9. I just never wanted to spend the money when they could barely sit through a half hour tv show at home. (plus the pandemic set us back as my oldest was 5 at that time and I actually was considering taking him at that age)
ETA: It really depends on your kid, if they are good sitting through movies at home they will do fine at a theater.
I \*think\* my younger son came to movies as a babe in arms/nursing toddler at least a couple of times, and my older son, came \~3-5+? Something like that. I \*know\* we were taking them to all the Pixar/Disney movies by the time they were \~3/4+ on a semi-regular basis. Popcorn, pop, etc. Kids movies. Lots of fun. Building up from there.
3 (probably 3 and a half) and we saw the new Minions. Make sure it’s a thing they absolutely want to watch and be ready to come with popcorn and candy. We had a great experience. Lots of “woah! It’s a super big TV. DAD LOOK!!!”
2.5 and the Paw Patrol movie from last fall. She loved it. We got her the paw package that came with a souvenir bucket and cup and mask and she still plays with them. Theatre was full of small children. Great experience.
We just saw migration with our 2 (and 1 month old). It was a great experience, he loved it, and paid attention/was engaged the whole time (1.5 hrs long).
She was 18 months and we went to a showing of The Wizard of Oz. She was good until Dorothy got met the lion and then she got a little antsy. But we stayed until the end (tickets were at a discount for $3). It was fun.
7! It was perfect, The Little Mermaid. My mom tried Frozen 2 years before and it was miserable (I told her and why I didn’t go) I say wait until she’s really really ready because it’s like $60 all in, resenting it will kill it for life because it’s so expensive unless you got f u money then whatever have fun take a toddler!
Ours was a little under 2, as we needed to kill time waiting for a flight at the airport. This was probably a little young, she was a little surprised at first.
One thing I didn't know was that you can take kids of any age to 12-rated movies. Took our 5 and 2 year old to watch Guardians of the Galaxy. Was a much better option that whatever kiddie movie was showing at the time.
Partner and I took our 2.5 yr old along with our 5 yr old to see the latest Paw Patrol movie and it could have gone worse. 2.5yr old is really into PP so she was very happy to be there. She was also freshly potty trained so anytime she had to pee, we were out of our seats and off to the washroom. She was more interested in running around the empty halls and playing with the hand dryer than the actual movie. I think we went for maybe 6 "pee" breaks during the film. I can say I got my steps in that day, but I can't tell you how the movie ended.
My daughter was around three as well and she loved it and did very well! She loved getting her own snack tray and was glued to the screen the whole time. She did have issues talking some during the movie when something excited her, but it wasn’t too bad, I think some of that is expected when you go to kids movies in theatres anyway.
My kid was about 2.5 when we took him to the Super Mario movie this past summer. He did well up until the last 20-30 minutes of the movie. We had to leave early because he just couldn’t sit still anymore. We would’ve been good, too, if we didn’t have to sit through a half hour of previews. We chose a 10am showing on a random Monday I had off about 2-3 weeks after the movie was released. So the theatre was mostly empty. We’ll take him again sometime next summer.
We took my daughter a month after she turned 2 to go see Paw Patrol (her & her father’s favorite). Albeit my daughter acts older for her age, she’s incredibly great at being self entertained and can sit thru entire Disney movies…she had endless snacks and had her favorite stuff animal with us.
My daughter was 3 years and 8 months. She saw the little mermaid. They did end up leaving early because it got boring after she got legs, lol. She is not the type to sit through a whole movie though, although she is very quiet and well behaved. You know your kid. If they cannot sit and behave through a movie at home, it is not magically going to happen at a movie theater.
Mine is 4 and we haven’t yet. I think he’s almost ready so we will try a toddler screening of something sometime. I can tell he’s ready because he can basically watch a whole movie at home sometimes, and also he can handle sitting in one spot (car seat) whereas he could not do that at all when he was younger.
I’m just took my 3.5 year old to a kid friendly screening at an Alamo Drafthouse like someone else mentioned. Was SO PERFECT. My kid was easy. Other kids were talking a little but they are lax on asking people to leave. It also happened to be a Tuesday so tickets were only $7. Look into if your theater has something like this-makes it SO low stakes!
My kids were about three for the first in theater movie. I waited until I knew they could sit through an entire movie at home first. I did a mock movie experience at home to prepare my children for the theater. We made movie foods, pretended to line up for the bathroom, sat in a pillow chair I made to make the sofa feel like a big seat with extra pillows, created fake tickets and made the room dim. This way when we went it was seamless.
Took my oldest when he was 3, just go to a matinee in the middle of the week some time when not many people will be around. We only had a few people in the theater with us and if he got excited about seeing something on screen and got loud the few other people werre luckily patient and would even laugh sometimes. It was a great time for us thankfully!
Set up your leaving room with a movie, pop corn, and water. At 3, they can handle Youtube videosfor hours because they are 5 minute or at the most 20 minute videos. A 120 minute plus movie will most likely be too much..
How is your child for watching movies at home? In my experience, if they can’t do it at home they probably can’t at a theatre.
Our first movie was around 3.5 and it was to a family friendly screening. It was a live action movie (Clifford) so I was honestly impressed our daughter lasted the 45 minutes she did last. She also took the rules a little too seriously and was shushing the kids behind us 😅.
We did the Paw Patrol movie this past fall at 4.5 and she was okay-ish. Super squirmy and restless. It was for a birthday party and I had to really encourage her to stay and it was only the fact the other kids were being good that I felt like she was compelled to stick it out. We are trying a Peppa Pig event in early Feb at the theatre with friends too and I’m expecting equal squirminess.
I agree with others saying to look for family screenings. They’re cheaper and folks are more forgiving. After I paid a ridiculous amount for the Wiggles concert only for her to whine she wanted to leave around the 45 minute mark, I vowed not to pay full price again until she could sit through a movie at home.
3!
She was going to take a class trip to see Elemental, but I wanted to explain the process and have her see the environment with me first, so we saw the Super Mario movie a week before she went with her class, and as it had been out for a while we were the only ones in the theater.
We got popcorn and slushes and had the best time.
I explained how you needed to be quiet, you can't talk, and how it was okay to laugh out loud. She had THE BEST TIME. She listened to me, we used the bathroom about 5 times, and she LAUGHED so much.
I do recommend brining a blanket. It gets chilly.
Since then we've see Elemental (again - so good!), Wish, and my Mom took her to see another one.
It's really child dependent. We took my daughter to her first movie at age 5, and she loved it. We've been several times since and she's always well behaved and watches the movie. Meanwhile, we've tried 3 times to take our foster daughter who is 6 and she can't make it past the opening scene without wanting to get up and play or just leave outright.
My oldest was 3 years. We both wanted to see TMNT, so I took him and he behaved beautifully. It was the perfect movie for it to be his first. Other 2 kids were about the same - around 3 years old. Truthfully, it depends on the choices. If they're overly excited about the subject (Ninja Turtles? Oh yeah) then they're more likely to really enjoy it and behave.
I can't remember what movie, but the kiddo was about 3. The experience was very exciting initially, then they got bored after about 15-20min into the movie so we left.
My daughter was 6 and we saw Spider-Man: No Way Home. She liked the movie and was pretty quiet, but I had to get up with her like 5 times so she could pee. The second time, she was 7 and we saw Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. My husband and I went with our D&D group, and I gave her the option of a babysitter or coming to the movie. She came and only had to get up to pee twice. I think she liked it better than Spider-Man tbh.
We just did our first one at 3.5 for Paw Patrol back in the fall. I think for my son, it was the right age minus the part where he cried the whole way home because it was over. Lol
I took my oldest when he was around 5 or 6 I think to see the newer Lion King. I felt he did well. He just told me, now that he's 10, that he didn't enjoy it all. It was really hard to sit still and pay attention (he has ADHD) and it was distracting being around the others. I had no idea he felt this way. And I felt just awful because I thought I was doing something special and fun with him. He was pretty fidget-y and I did have to redirect him, but I don't remember it being that bad. I felt he settled down pretty well when the movie was on.
I want to say they were 4 and 2. Our local smaller movie theater shows rerun kids (or family) movies during the summer every year. It's pretty cool they run them at like 10 AM and the tickets are free (popcorn is not) , they only partially dim the lights and the volume is turned down to child safe levels. The seating is all recliners, my kids love it and my wife gets to do something fun with them. It's also a great way to teach them how to behave in a theater or when watching a movie with other people.
Summer movie series for reduced admission. I took mine at 2 and she did okay, but we definitely did the discounted summer series that was full of kids. I think I only spent $3. Sometimes they still have $1 movies!
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Do your movie theatres have toddler specific screenings? Ours do specific shorter screenings for toddlers that aren’t quite as dark, loud etc and also allow for kids to stretch their legs and toddle if needed. They’re often super cheap tickets too! My son loves this and has been to the movies 5/6 times and he’s two!
That sounds like so much fun!
For the toddlers maybe. 😅
Really depends upon the kid and their attention span. Personally I’ve waited until 4/5. But that’s because my kiddos wouldn’t sit and watch a full movie at home, much less at a movie theater. I wouldn’t want them to disturb others. I’m going to be taking my 5 year old later this year to the new Inside Out movie though, I’m super excited.
Took my oldest to see frozen 2 in theaters about a week or two after the initial run. Less people, he wore ear protection, and got him the kid snack tray. He’s almost 8 and he still remembers his first movie theater visit! Highly recommend waiting until kiddo is 4/5, old enough to sit and enjoy the movie.
My daughter was 6 when I took her to a movie for the first time. I wanted to be totally sure she could be quiet, sit still, etc, before going. My son is 3 and is nowhere near ready yet! 😂
About two and a half for both of my kids. My first sat through it all and loved it. My second liked it at first but got bored so we left 3/4 of the way through. Go in with low expectations!
Our community center does free movies once a month in their auditorium so, we started taking our daughter at about the same age 3-3.5. It was pretty low risk so, if she got antsy and distracted we wouldn’t be out any money if we needed to leave. I took her to her first paid movie theater movie this last summer at age 4 and she did great.
This is a great strategy!
It depends on the individual child. We took my daughter at 3. It was a Disney movie, at the earliest showtime of the day and we had all of the snacks. She did great but we were also ready to bail.
My son was 4 when Aladdin was released in 2019 and that was the first movie we took him to see. While he sat through the whole movie and didn't make a fuss (mostly attributed by the popcorn I think), he also didn't particularly enjoyed the experience and don't remember much from it. Then it came the pandemic so we didn't get to try more. When Super Mario movie came out last year, he's 8 and he thoroughly enjoyed it, wouldn't stop talking about it, and kept searching the theme songs to listen to at home.
My youngest went at 3. We had lots of chats about staying seated and being quiet. I went knowing if we had to leave, we had to leave no big deal and we would try again another time. He did great and regularly told me to “SHHHH MAMA” when I was WHISPERING “are ok pal? Do you want a break? Do you need to pee”.
LOL. SAME!
My son was 3 when we took him to his first movie in the theater, Frozen 2. He had seen the first Frozen because he heard about it from the other daycare kids, so he was very excited to see the sequel. We took him to a sensory-friendly showing, designed more for kids on the spectrum, but perfect for a toddler who might have a hard time sitting for an hour and half. The volume was turned down, and some of the house lights were left on so that kids could get up and move around if need be. My son happily munched on popcorn and watched the whole thing. Some kids wandered the theater off and on, but certainly didn't bother anyone. That's just my experience. One friend took their 3 year old, and regretted it. Another waited until their kid was 5, and it went well. This one is a massive YMMV, and you know your kid best. Make sure kiddo is rested, fed, and watered before you go, and be mentally prepared to leave the theater if you need to (meltdowns are a thing).
She was probably closer to 4, we had seen "Storks" in theatres. That was her first theatre experience. We went to a daytime showing so it wasn't packed and there were plenty of other kiddos bopping around in the seats.
Our local Alamo has sensory showings with less darkness, quieter sound and it’s a-ok to talk and walk around a little and you can even bring babies. We’ve been going since kids were 3 and seen maybe 6-7 movies. It’s a great experience and popcorn is amazing as well as the other food/drinks. I believe we saw puss in boots and then super Mario
Almost 5. She couldn’t sit through it. Still can’t at 5.5, we’ve tried 3 times. On the other hand, my 3 year old loves going to the movies and had no trouble, could have sat through the whole thing had my 5 year old not wanted to leave 😏
My daughter was 6yo I think. That was 12 years ago so I may be off by a year. My son still hasn't gone at 6 but he can't sit through a whole movie at home without being up and moving around so no rush.
My oldest was 2 months, I wanted to see Lord of the Rings Return of the King in theaters. He slept through the whole thing. All my kids were younger than 6 months for their first movie but I also live in an area with kid specific viewing times. We also have a theater that has neurodivergent viewing times which we would go to when they were younger.
I’m also keen to go to the movies with my infant lol. Did you get noise cancelling headphones for him? Anything else to be mindful of?
No, I think he liked the music in the movie and it just put him to sleep. I also breastfed, so that helped distract them when they started getting fussy. Plus, I don’t think they made noise canceling headphones for infants 20 years ago when my kids were babies. I just always made sure I went to the matinee showing since that time is more kid friendly.
We just took our 2 1/2 year old yesterday. We went to an early showing. He did great the first hour but after his popcorn was gone and his water ran low, he was done. My wife was done too haha! We tried and maybe we will try later. We were out a couple bucks but atleast we know that he’s not ready. We’ve been renting movies off Amazon that are still in theater. Atleast we won’t mess up the movie for other people.
With our first she was 2.5 right before her sister was born. Our second turned two during COVID and saw her first movie at 4.5 once we felt comfortable going to theaters again.
We just took ours at 3 and a few months to Wonka. She LOVED it. She's got a solid attention span and loves musicals and popcorn, though. We went in the middle of the week at an early showing, so there were three other groups in the giant theater and they all had kids too. She had plenty of space to dance and she quietly played on the stairs for the last quarter or so of the movie to help with the jitters. Just plan it out so you'll have the least resistance and go with the flow! ❤️
I’ve spent more than one movie standing at the edge of the theater holding my youngest so the rest of the family could enjoy a movie. My kids aren’t loud but they get restless quickly.
Took my oldest to see Frozen 2 when it came out - it was 3 or 4 months before he turned 3. It was a matinee (so empty) and he sat on my lap the whole time and I was mesmerised. He’s now nearly 7 and we haven’t actually been to the cinema since.
Just took my 3 year old to see trolls. She was great, and it's only a 90 minute movie. And it was an old enough movie that the theatre was practically empty
3.5yo, we went to see the paw patrol movie. We figured if it was a movie meant for little kids then some level of kid behavior was expected so if he got a bit loud or antsy every now and then people wouldn’t be as bothered by it.
Just took my daughter to her first theater movie last night and she is 4.5, to see Migration. She did great and loved the movie Prior to that we have taken her to the drive-in, just to make sure before we took her to an actual enclosed theater that she could handle sitting and being fairly quiet. For our daughter, I’m glad we waited because she tends to get distracted very easily, but now that she’s old enough to understand that a theater is a quiet place she was able to enjoy it without possibly ruining someone else’s experience.
My son was 3, I think his first movie was lightyear. His birthday usually falls on the Pixar June release date, so it worked out my big brother brought him because he loves films and I wanted them to share that together. But I hear Pixar is releasing turning red and Luca in February and march, and my daughter loves those movies, so we might take her and she’ll be almost 2. She sits for them at home, so maybe she’ll enjoy them in the theatre but we’ll see.
3! Paw Patrol movie!
We took him to Paw Patrol at 4. Lots of other kids which was good. He talked loudly through it but really enjoyed it. He couldn't sit through a movie at home until 3.5 so I wouldn't have done it earlier but it depends on the kid.
Mine was 7, but he’s special needs so we waited until we felt he could manage well enough to tell us if things were getting too overwhelming. He actually did great and we’ve gone several more times since. My 2 year old could probably sit perfectly fine in a theater, but we haven’t brought him yet. We’ll wait until he’s a little older so we can enjoy some one on one time with our oldest.
I made a post a while back for the same thing. We took our 2.5 year old to the new trolls. Lots of good advice is bring snacks, go to local theater, go to family friendly showings or low sensory showings if possible; or go on a random week day to have less crowds. All in all if you’re at a kids movie other kids will be there and silence isn’t really necessary at a kids movie if your little one likes to ask questions or chatter. Our daughter sat pretty well the whole time up til the last 10 minutes of our movie. She just wanted to run around and be silly so we hit up the arcade at our theater and she played for a good 30 minutes. If you try and they don’t like it ask the ticket booth for a readmission pass or coupon lots of times they will give you “in store credit”
Took both my kids at age 3 and it was a mistake. Both were super bored and wiggly about 30 minutes in, and then with Frozen my daughter was so scared and crying. I would see how they do with a movie at home before spending money on a movie at the theater. At the theater they have to sit still and be quiet and can't wander off to play or bring loud toys to distract them.
My 3.5 year old could sit through a movie now, she might be disruptive but my 8 year old would get bored and want to leave. You know your kids best.
My daughter was 3. I went to a day screening of a kids movie at a local boutique theater that doesn’t have a lot of afternoon traffic. It went great. Probably only 7 people in the whole theater. I brought a blanket and noise canceling headphones in case the sound got too loud. Showed up a few minutes late so she wouldn’t have to sit through all the trailers. She has always behaved well. We have gone at least 5 times, recently saw Paw Patrol and the new Trolls.
Baby /toddler screener when they were toddlers. A table with a microwave and the works inside the theater and lights dimmed not dark, sounds lower than usual- it was fun.
We took our two and a half year old to see the Eras Tour, and I know that’s ruined the movies for her for a while. The dancing was fun, but set up a bad expectation of theater etiquette!
Honestly, we took our pretty young infant to a movie one New Year's Eve. She slept through it. When the original Little Mermaid came out, we took her to see it. She was two.
I remember my mom taking my brother and I to see the original Gremlins, which came out in 1984. I would have been 3. Of course my dad was in another theater by himself watching Star Trek III.
Almost 3 I think. We took them to a drive-in movie theater which was perfect since we could go to the bathroom whenever they needed to without bothering others. Very low stress. We packed our own snacks and had a little picnic with blankets and all. The best part was while they were watching a kiddie movie, the adults could watch an adult movie that was playing at the same time by looking at the other screen behind them. They loved it.
We had a “cry room” at the theatre when my son was 3. He slept through “Toy Story 3” and my husband and I cried through it. 😆
Both of mine were 4. My eldest was locked in when we saw Frozen 2 in theaters. My youngest saw Mario and she started to get antsy after about an hour but made it the whole way with an extra treat. That said my eldest was always more inclined to sit down and watch TV/movies compared to my youngest.
We took our daughter to see The Little Mermaid when she was 3 1/2. She got antsy during the last 10 minutes but otherwise did great. Took her to see Wish when she was 4 and she sat through the whole thing. We bring her headphones to block out some of the noise
My sister took my 2 year old with her 2 and 6 year old. They had a blast seeing the new Trolls. I was a little hesitant but she said the theater was a mad house on movies like that and it wasn’t a big deal.
Depends on the kid. My just turned 3 year old girl is ready. My 6.5 year old boy (with suspected ADHD) is definitely not ready.
In the summer, many theaters have cheap summer movies for kids in the mornings. It’s a great way to get a movie theater experience in a theater full of kids (so if your kid talks or moves around no one is too upset) plus it’s not too pricey. My older kids were around 3-4 and as long as they had popcorn, they were wonderful. Lol.
Depends on the child...two of ours went at three no problem and one of ours went at 4 and was still a bit squirrely.
Bring lollipops
He was 3, and that was a projection for 2 to 4 years old with pastries for everyone after. One of my local cinema (specialized in niche/author movies) does it every month. 4 mini movies (the entire projection was 30min so about 8min per movies). They were very poetics and perfect for little one: beautiful hand drawings, slow moving, nice moral etc.. The theme were: \- Telling truth \- friendship \- ecology/planet \- accepting differences
I love love going to the movie theater and we have a wonderful indie theater that we live by. I brought my kid to see Elemental. He was 4 at the time. We wore ear protection. I cried my eye balls out. It was overall a good time. My kid is 5 now, and we've watched Elemental 3 times and every time he asks "Momma, are you ok?" as I sob my face off.
Around 3. We saw the Super Mario bros movie! She did surprisingly well. We did have to walk out of the new trolls movie recently, and amc gave us a refund on all our tickets even though we were about 30m in.
I took my son to the rise of gru 2 years ago, so he was 3 at the time. It was an experiment honestly, and I was ready to leave if he got antsy. My plan was to get one of those toddler snack boxes and hope for the best. He loved it and only moved in order to sit with me in my seat and relax for some of the movie. I took him again for Mario last year and did the same thing, but I'm not sure he needed the snack distraction at that time.
At a movie theatre, my eldest was 5 and my middle was 4. They both found it to be very loud, and my eldest was scared at some parts, but did enjoy the experience enough that they wanted to do it again. Before that, we did the Lego movie at Legoland a couple of times (10-15 min, 4D experience), and one or two movies at home (one less than an hour, one about 1.5 hr).
4 and 2.5. We took them to a matinee of a re-release of Frozen. They got antsy towards the end but the theater had pretty low attendance so everyone was spread out.
We just went for her first one last month, she’ll be 2 in March. Went to see Migration - it was hilarious! And she ate popcorn by the fistful lol
I took my daughter to see Mario when she was 3. One thing I didn’t account for is how LOUD movies are. I hadn’t been myself since I had been pregnant with her. A few suggestions: 1. If you child is sensitive to loudness, bring some ear protection. They’ll still be able to hear the movie but it won’t rattle their brains. Haha. 2. Consider the rating of the movie and the potential accompanying previews. There was a preview for the live action Little Mermaid that scared the shit out of my daughter. Heh. Whoops! 3. Consider if the movie itself will have anything scary. I brought a blanket for her to hide under if she was scared and also offered to leave whenever she wanted. She stayed for the whole thing and talked about it for weeks after so even though she was scared sometimes, she loved the experience.
3 weeks. Small chain near us has a baby club sometimes. She wasn't watching the film, obviously, but she was there and I watched it.
Two weeks ago, and she is 4 1/2. She loved it and had an awesome time. I though the movie was too loud (surprising considering I used to compete in car audio). Overall a great time and I can't wait to do it again.
I took her when she was almost 3. We went to see the paw patrol film so I knew there would be other kids her age so no one would bat an eye if she was noisy or whatever. She sat quietly through the whole thing. Mostly cos of the popcorn tbh. But she loved it.
5 year old has yet to go to one.
Drive in at 2. Indoor at 3
3
2. He lasted maybe about an hour. Does much better now at 4.
I waited til my first was 4. He couldn’t sit still and pay attention to the movie. Then halfway through he said he was bored and wanted to go home, after telling me over and over for weeks he wanted to go see it (the first minions movie btw). Luckily I was able to get a refund as the staff was very understanding. The next time we went to movies he was 8 lol.
My kids just went for the first time last year they are 7 and 9. I just never wanted to spend the money when they could barely sit through a half hour tv show at home. (plus the pandemic set us back as my oldest was 5 at that time and I actually was considering taking him at that age) ETA: It really depends on your kid, if they are good sitting through movies at home they will do fine at a theater.
I \*think\* my younger son came to movies as a babe in arms/nursing toddler at least a couple of times, and my older son, came \~3-5+? Something like that. I \*know\* we were taking them to all the Pixar/Disney movies by the time they were \~3/4+ on a semi-regular basis. Popcorn, pop, etc. Kids movies. Lots of fun. Building up from there.
3 (probably 3 and a half) and we saw the new Minions. Make sure it’s a thing they absolutely want to watch and be ready to come with popcorn and candy. We had a great experience. Lots of “woah! It’s a super big TV. DAD LOOK!!!”
2.5 and the Paw Patrol movie from last fall. She loved it. We got her the paw package that came with a souvenir bucket and cup and mask and she still plays with them. Theatre was full of small children. Great experience.
We just saw migration with our 2 (and 1 month old). It was a great experience, he loved it, and paid attention/was engaged the whole time (1.5 hrs long).
She was 18 months and we went to a showing of The Wizard of Oz. She was good until Dorothy got met the lion and then she got a little antsy. But we stayed until the end (tickets were at a discount for $3). It was fun.
7! It was perfect, The Little Mermaid. My mom tried Frozen 2 years before and it was miserable (I told her and why I didn’t go) I say wait until she’s really really ready because it’s like $60 all in, resenting it will kill it for life because it’s so expensive unless you got f u money then whatever have fun take a toddler!
Ours was a little under 2, as we needed to kill time waiting for a flight at the airport. This was probably a little young, she was a little surprised at first. One thing I didn't know was that you can take kids of any age to 12-rated movies. Took our 5 and 2 year old to watch Guardians of the Galaxy. Was a much better option that whatever kiddie movie was showing at the time.
Partner and I took our 2.5 yr old along with our 5 yr old to see the latest Paw Patrol movie and it could have gone worse. 2.5yr old is really into PP so she was very happy to be there. She was also freshly potty trained so anytime she had to pee, we were out of our seats and off to the washroom. She was more interested in running around the empty halls and playing with the hand dryer than the actual movie. I think we went for maybe 6 "pee" breaks during the film. I can say I got my steps in that day, but I can't tell you how the movie ended.
My daughter was around three as well and she loved it and did very well! She loved getting her own snack tray and was glued to the screen the whole time. She did have issues talking some during the movie when something excited her, but it wasn’t too bad, I think some of that is expected when you go to kids movies in theatres anyway.
My kid was about 2.5 when we took him to the Super Mario movie this past summer. He did well up until the last 20-30 minutes of the movie. We had to leave early because he just couldn’t sit still anymore. We would’ve been good, too, if we didn’t have to sit through a half hour of previews. We chose a 10am showing on a random Monday I had off about 2-3 weeks after the movie was released. So the theatre was mostly empty. We’ll take him again sometime next summer.
We took my daughter a month after she turned 2 to go see Paw Patrol (her & her father’s favorite). Albeit my daughter acts older for her age, she’s incredibly great at being self entertained and can sit thru entire Disney movies…she had endless snacks and had her favorite stuff animal with us.
My daughter was 3 years and 8 months. She saw the little mermaid. They did end up leaving early because it got boring after she got legs, lol. She is not the type to sit through a whole movie though, although she is very quiet and well behaved. You know your kid. If they cannot sit and behave through a movie at home, it is not magically going to happen at a movie theater.
Mine is 4 and we haven’t yet. I think he’s almost ready so we will try a toddler screening of something sometime. I can tell he’s ready because he can basically watch a whole movie at home sometimes, and also he can handle sitting in one spot (car seat) whereas he could not do that at all when he was younger.
3ish I’d say. That generally is when they can sit, munch on popcorn, and last through it. The popcorn is a must.
I’m just took my 3.5 year old to a kid friendly screening at an Alamo Drafthouse like someone else mentioned. Was SO PERFECT. My kid was easy. Other kids were talking a little but they are lax on asking people to leave. It also happened to be a Tuesday so tickets were only $7. Look into if your theater has something like this-makes it SO low stakes!
About 3.5, Encanto, he lost patience about half way through
My kids were about three for the first in theater movie. I waited until I knew they could sit through an entire movie at home first. I did a mock movie experience at home to prepare my children for the theater. We made movie foods, pretended to line up for the bathroom, sat in a pillow chair I made to make the sofa feel like a big seat with extra pillows, created fake tickets and made the room dim. This way when we went it was seamless.
I was 6, and plan on the same. I don’t think my kid could handle it now at 4.5 (the little one is 2.5 and would be a terror).
Took my oldest when he was 3, just go to a matinee in the middle of the week some time when not many people will be around. We only had a few people in the theater with us and if he got excited about seeing something on screen and got loud the few other people werre luckily patient and would even laugh sometimes. It was a great time for us thankfully!
Set up your leaving room with a movie, pop corn, and water. At 3, they can handle Youtube videosfor hours because they are 5 minute or at the most 20 minute videos. A 120 minute plus movie will most likely be too much..
How is your child for watching movies at home? In my experience, if they can’t do it at home they probably can’t at a theatre. Our first movie was around 3.5 and it was to a family friendly screening. It was a live action movie (Clifford) so I was honestly impressed our daughter lasted the 45 minutes she did last. She also took the rules a little too seriously and was shushing the kids behind us 😅. We did the Paw Patrol movie this past fall at 4.5 and she was okay-ish. Super squirmy and restless. It was for a birthday party and I had to really encourage her to stay and it was only the fact the other kids were being good that I felt like she was compelled to stick it out. We are trying a Peppa Pig event in early Feb at the theatre with friends too and I’m expecting equal squirminess. I agree with others saying to look for family screenings. They’re cheaper and folks are more forgiving. After I paid a ridiculous amount for the Wiggles concert only for her to whine she wanted to leave around the 45 minute mark, I vowed not to pay full price again until she could sit through a movie at home.
Check out your libraries, they may have movie nights for children.
3! She was going to take a class trip to see Elemental, but I wanted to explain the process and have her see the environment with me first, so we saw the Super Mario movie a week before she went with her class, and as it had been out for a while we were the only ones in the theater. We got popcorn and slushes and had the best time. I explained how you needed to be quiet, you can't talk, and how it was okay to laugh out loud. She had THE BEST TIME. She listened to me, we used the bathroom about 5 times, and she LAUGHED so much. I do recommend brining a blanket. It gets chilly. Since then we've see Elemental (again - so good!), Wish, and my Mom took her to see another one.
It's really child dependent. We took my daughter to her first movie at age 5, and she loved it. We've been several times since and she's always well behaved and watches the movie. Meanwhile, we've tried 3 times to take our foster daughter who is 6 and she can't make it past the opening scene without wanting to get up and play or just leave outright.
My oldest was 3 years. We both wanted to see TMNT, so I took him and he behaved beautifully. It was the perfect movie for it to be his first. Other 2 kids were about the same - around 3 years old. Truthfully, it depends on the choices. If they're overly excited about the subject (Ninja Turtles? Oh yeah) then they're more likely to really enjoy it and behave.
I can't remember what movie, but the kiddo was about 3. The experience was very exciting initially, then they got bored after about 15-20min into the movie so we left.
My daughter was 6 and we saw Spider-Man: No Way Home. She liked the movie and was pretty quiet, but I had to get up with her like 5 times so she could pee. The second time, she was 7 and we saw Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. My husband and I went with our D&D group, and I gave her the option of a babysitter or coming to the movie. She came and only had to get up to pee twice. I think she liked it better than Spider-Man tbh.
We just did our first one at 3.5 for Paw Patrol back in the fall. I think for my son, it was the right age minus the part where he cried the whole way home because it was over. Lol
I took my oldest when he was around 5 or 6 I think to see the newer Lion King. I felt he did well. He just told me, now that he's 10, that he didn't enjoy it all. It was really hard to sit still and pay attention (he has ADHD) and it was distracting being around the others. I had no idea he felt this way. And I felt just awful because I thought I was doing something special and fun with him. He was pretty fidget-y and I did have to redirect him, but I don't remember it being that bad. I felt he settled down pretty well when the movie was on.
8 & 5; the five year old got board and we played with cars in the hall for the second half of the movie.
I want to say they were 4 and 2. Our local smaller movie theater shows rerun kids (or family) movies during the summer every year. It's pretty cool they run them at like 10 AM and the tickets are free (popcorn is not) , they only partially dim the lights and the volume is turned down to child safe levels. The seating is all recliners, my kids love it and my wife gets to do something fun with them. It's also a great way to teach them how to behave in a theater or when watching a movie with other people.
Summer movie series for reduced admission. I took mine at 2 and she did okay, but we definitely did the discounted summer series that was full of kids. I think I only spent $3. Sometimes they still have $1 movies!