Directed by Enrico Casarosa (who also gave us Luca), La Luna is a fable about a young boy going to "work" for the first time with his Papa and Grandpa. They row a wooden boat out into the middle of the sea at night, wait for the moon to rise, and then... well, I won't spoil the magic, but it involves a long ladder, a lot of glowing stars, and a very specific family business.

The most important thing? No one says a word. There’s some expressive grumbling and "mhmms," but zero dialogue.

Ask our chatbot for more Pixar shorts that teach emotional intelligence

When we talk about "media literacy," we often think about identifying fake news or understanding advertising. But for younger kids (Ages 4-10), media literacy starts with visual inference.

In La Luna, because there is no narrator telling you that the Grandpa and Papa are disagreeing, the child has to look at their body language. They have to notice the way the boy looks back and forth between them, trying to find his own way to do things.

This forces a kid’s brain to move from Passive Viewing (just letting images wash over them) to Active Viewing (interpreting, analyzing, and predicting).

Without dialogue, kids have to rely on facial expressions and "micro-expressions" to understand the characters. When the boy in La Luna finds a giant star, his awe is written all over his face. When he figures out a clever way to solve a problem that his elders couldn't, his pride is silent but massive. Research shows that kids who practice identifying emotions in media are better at doing it in real-life social situations.

Modern kids' TV often uses "staccato" editing—cuts every 2-3 seconds—to keep kids from looking away. Wordless shorts like La Luna or Hedgehog in the Fog use longer takes and slower pacing. It teaches kids that it’s okay to sit with a single image for ten seconds. It’s essentially a "focus workout."

Whether you have a toddler who isn't speaking yet or a child who struggles with auditory processing, wordless stories are the great equalizer. Everyone is on the same playing field.

Learn more about the benefits of "slow media" for kids

Once your kid has "leveled up" with La Luna, you can start introducing more complex wordless or "near-wordless" media. Here are the top recommendations:

Ages 5+ The first 30-40 minutes of Wall-E are a masterclass in wordless storytelling. It’s basically a silent film set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Watching a rusty robot fall in love with a high-tech probe without a single line of dialogue is more moving than most "chatty" rom-coms.

Ages 3+ If you want a series that isn't "brain rot," this is it. Produced by Aardman (the Wallace & Gromit folks), it’s pure slapstick comedy that relies entirely on timing and expression. It’s genuinely funny for adults, too.

Ages 8+ For older kids, this Studio Ghibli co-production is a beautiful, dialogue-free story about a man shipwrecked on a deserted island. It’s more of an "art film" vibe, but it’s a great way to show that wordless stories aren't just for "little kids."

Ages 7+ In the gaming world, Journey is the gold standard. There is no text, no voiceover, and no "tutorial." You just wake up in a desert and start moving toward a mountain. It’s a profound experience that teaches kids about cooperation and exploration without the toxicity of a voice-chat lobby.

Ages 3-8 Don't confuse this with the game above! This is a wordless picture book about a girl who draws a magic door and enters another world. "Reading" a wordless book with your child is one of the best ways to gauge their comprehension—they have to tell you what’s happening in the story.

Check out our guide on the best wordless picture books

While wordless media is generally "safe" (it lacks the snarky dialogue or "Ohio" memes you might worry about), there are different ways to approach it based on age:

If you watch La Luna with your kid, don't just turn it off when the credits roll. Ask one or two intentional questions to see if their "active viewing" brain was turned on:

We can’t protect our kids from the fast-paced, noisy digital world forever. They’re going to see the weird YouTube shorts and the frantic Roblox gameplay eventually.

But we can give them a solid foundation. By introducing wordless masterpieces like La Luna, we’re teaching them that stories don’t have to be loud to be powerful. We’re teaching them to look closer, listen better, and think for themselves.

And honestly? Sitting in silence for seven minutes watching stars glow on the moon is a pretty great "digital wellness" break for us parents, too.

Ask our chatbot for a personalized "Wordless Media" playlist for your kid's age