Fantastical Middle Grade TV Shows
I am always on the hunt for stories and entertainment that my whole family can enjoy together.
It’s harder than it sounds. Especially when you have both girls and boys spanning an age range from 6 to 15!
However, thankfully, all of my children enjoy the fantastical genre, and we’ve been able to find some fun fantasy Middle Grade TV shows that are clean and wholesome and everyone in the family loves. So I thought I’d share a few of our favorites with you.
Tangled: The Series
Tangled came along and knocked Sleeping Beauty right off the top of my “favorite Disney princess movie” and has stayed up there ever since.
I was a little hesitant about watching the show, but I needn’t have been. It is super cute and fun. It continues the story and keeps everything that was beautiful and sweet about the movie and just moves along, giving you another adventure with Rapunzel and Flynn, as well as introducing a couple of new characters to love.
At only 3 seasons, it is a single story arc that comes to a nice conclusion and wraps up well, leading you happily to the final line of the movie and needing nothing more.
Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street
Anyone here ever watch Eerie, Indiana? No? Just me, then? Okay, well, this live-action show reminds me a little bit of Eerie, Indiana, but a whole lot sweeter. A little bit episodic, but with an overarching amount of character development and some plot points that tie the episodes together as well, this is one of the sweetest shows I’ve ever seen.
There’s a lot of “feel good” in this show, and I am here for it.
There’s also some pretty tough lessons that will hit you right in the heartstrings, and I am here for that, as well.
I would classify this series as “light" fantasy or even maybe “magical realism” but I would definitely still consider it to be in the fantasy genre.
Lost in Oz
If you love The Wizard of Oz, you will probably enjoy this fun, animated series. It picks up with the original Dorothy’s grand-daughter, who is also named Dorothy, and she ends up in Oz on an all-new adventure. Along the way she makes friends, has adventures, and battles for the heart of Oz.
Just Add Magic
Another live-action series. Just Add Magic proves that more things can happen in your kitchen than just cooking!
When Kelly finds her grandma’s old cookbook, she decides to try out a recipe or two. But right away there’s a problem: the spices it calls for don’t exist. Thankfully, the exotic spice shop in town happens to have these spices that don’t exist on google, and Kelly and her friends complete the experiment.
Fun ensues as the recipes have some unexpected consequences, and now the girls must figure out how to deal with them… while also reeling from the realization that they haven’t just found an old cookbook… they’ve found a magic cookbook!
Absolutely sweet and wholesome, there’s a lot of mystery and mayhem in this series, along with lots of lessons about true friendship and the importance of family.
Wizards of Waverly Place
Okay, this one is super corny, but in a very fun way. A show about three wizard siblings who are learning to use their powers, knowing that only one of them will be allowed to keep those powers when they come of age.
Sibling rivalry, lessons about consequences, zany fun, and a whole lot of Harry Potter satirization all weave together to make a show that’s fun to watch, fun to laugh at, and just overall entertaining.
Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia
I can’t even begin to describe how gorgeous this show is. Thankfully, it’s not just gorgeous in terms of the animation, but the story and the characters are also just beautiful.
Meet Jim, an ordinary high school kid, who inherits a mysterious amulet that places the mantle of “trollhunter” on his unwilling shoulders. This mantle means that Jim is now in charge of protecting the good trolls and all of humankind from evil trolls bent on world domination.
I love the epic story, the fantastical elements, the characters, and the twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through all three seasons.
Transformers: Prime
By far, Transformers: Prime is the best representation of the Transformers world I have ever seen on screen. There is so much nobility and heroism and adventure in this epic TV show, and it’s sad to me that so few people seem to have seen it.
This is the Transformers as they should always be.
I also love that the main character, Jack, ends up telling his mom about the Transformers and how he’s helping them.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Kind of saving the best for last here… but ATLA is probably my all-time favorite cartoon series.
It’s got a lot of silly while it deals with some pretty heavy themes. The characters are a lot of fun, and you get to see them all grow a ton, the character development is probably the number one reason to watch this show.
The plot is solid and this is another one where you can tell they had a set story-arc that they knew would take a certain amount of time and they told that story across the three seasons and didn’t try to draw it out with endless added conflicts or stories that so often ruin good shows.
Also, water, air, fire, and earth bending is such a cool concept. And I definitely want a flying bison!
Have you seen any of these shows?
Do you know of any other clean, middle grade fantasy shows that I’m missing in my life?