Is E.T. OK for a 6 year old?

Likely fine. The perfect age. The friendship, the bike, and the goodbye land at full strength, and the tears are the good kind. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for a 7 year old?

Likely fine. The perfect age. The friendship, the bike, and the goodbye land at full strength, and the tears are the good kind. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for an 8 year old?

Likely fine. The perfect age. The friendship, the bike, and the goodbye land at full strength, and the tears are the good kind. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for a 9 year old?

Likely fine. Easy, and the divorce subplot that runs quietly under the story becomes visible. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for a 10 year old?

Likely fine. Easy, and the divorce subplot that runs quietly under the story becomes visible. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for an 11 year old?

Likely fine. Easy, and the divorce subplot that runs quietly under the story becomes visible. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for a 12 year old?

Likely fine. Little to manage. Worth the rewatch for the craft alone. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for a 13 year old?

Likely fine. Little to manage. Worth the rewatch for the craft alone. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is E.T. OK for a 5 Year Old?

Q: Is E.T. OK for a 4 year old?

Depends on the kid. Mostly yes. The men in hazmat suits filling the house and E.T. turning gray on the table are the two moments that frighten small kids, and the second one is sad rather than scary. A child who can sit with a sad scene knowing it gets better is ready. One who cannot tolerate the possibility of a friend dying should wait a year. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is E.T. OK for a 5 year old?

Depends on the kid. Mostly yes. The men in hazmat suits filling the house and E.T. turning gray on the table are the two moments that frighten small kids, and the second one is sad rather than scary. A child who can sit with a sad scene knowing it gets better is ready. One who cannot tolerate the possibility of a friend dying should wait a year. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial scores 35 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · the answer, age by age

Written by FilmScout, reviewed by Ben Fedyniak · Updated September 15, 2026

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35 MILD ScoutScore

For most 5 year olds, E.T. is a yes, and for many it is the first movie they cry at. It scores 35 on the ScoutScore, in the Mild tier, from a government raid on the house and a long stretch where E.T. sickens and appears to die while Elliott begs him to stay. None of it is violent. All of it is felt, which is the reason the movie has lasted.

A ScoutScore is a living number. We re-check movies against the source and raise or lower it when we find something the first pass missed, so a score you see today can differ from one you saw last month.

Age by age

Under 6 DEPENDS

Mostly yes. The men in hazmat suits filling the house and E.T. turning gray on the table are the two moments that frighten small kids, and the second one is sad rather than scary. A child who can sit with a sad scene knowing it gets better is ready. One who cannot tolerate the possibility of a friend dying should wait a year.

Ages 6 to 8 LIKELY FINE

The perfect age. The friendship, the bike, and the goodbye land at full strength, and the tears are the good kind.

Ages 9 to 11 LIKELY FINE

Easy, and the divorce subplot that runs quietly under the story becomes visible.

Ages 12 and up LIKELY FINE

Little to manage. Worth the rewatch for the craft alone.

By the year

The same verdicts, by the exact age you are asking about.

4 year old	DEPENDS	Mostly yes.
5 year old	DEPENDS	Mostly yes.
6 year old	LIKELY FINE	The perfect age.
7 year old	LIKELY FINE	The perfect age.
8 year old	LIKELY FINE	The perfect age.
9 year old	LIKELY FINE	Easy, and the divorce subplot that runs quietly under the story becomes visible.
10 year old	LIKELY FINE	Easy, and the divorce subplot that runs quietly under the story becomes visible.
11 year old	LIKELY FINE	Easy, and the divorce subplot that runs quietly under the story becomes visible.
12 year old	LIKELY FINE	Little to manage.
13 year old	LIKELY FINE	Little to manage.

Where the big moments land

The scenes below are the raid and the medical sequence. They come back to back, which is why the last half hour feels so heavy for young kids and so earned for everyone else.

1:19:16	Caution	E.T. and Elliott in medical quarantine
1:26:15	Caution	E.T. appears to die
1:44:34	Heads up	E.T. says goodbye and departs

These three are a sample. The full scene map, and live alerts that arrive before each scene while you watch, are in the FilmScout app.

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This guide tells you before. The app tells you during.

Every scene above is timed. The FilmScout app listens to the movie and taps you 30 seconds before each one, so you can skip it, mute it, or talk it through. Free to start on iPhone.

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The bottom line

A goodbye a child can carry. It will make your 5 year old cry and they will ask for it again, which is the exact transaction the movie was built for.

Content map

How the scenes we flagged in this movie divide up by kind. These are shares of what was flagged, not a level, and not a promise about anything we did not flag: a movie with very little flagged content can still be 80% one kind.

Flagged for scary and dark with themes.

Scary and dark	37%
Violence and action	10%
Themes	29%
Sexual content	none flagged
Substances	8%
Language	16%
All flagged content	100%

Direction is the kind of content flagged. Reach is the ScoutScore, which is how much there is: green at the centre, yellow, orange, then red at the dotted line, which is 100. The scale has no ceiling, so a shape can cross it.

Scout every scene in the app.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial mapped moment by moment, with alerts that follow along while you watch.

Full scene report for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

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Every age guide

Quoting this page? Writers, bloggers, and fellow parents are welcome to quote these verdicts with credit to FilmScout and a link back here. Scores change as movies are rescored, so please link rather than hardcode a number. Boilerplate and assets are in the press kit.

ScoutScores are FilmScout's own scene by scene analysis and change as the catalog is rescored. These verdicts describe how movies tend to land by age. You know your family; the final call is always yours. FilmScout is independent and is not affiliated with, licensed by, or endorsed by any studio or ratings board.

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