Boston Children’s Museum to Host Free Screenings of Wall-E and E.T.

Watch E.T. and Wall-E in Fort Point at Boston Children’s Museum.

With more clear skies and warm weather expected before summer is—eek!—over, Boston Children’s Museum is joining in on outdoor evening-time fun by hosting two free screenings this week and next.

To celebrate their exhibit, “My Sky,” the museum will show Wall-E (2008) on Friday, August 29, and E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) on Friday, September 5. The free, public screenings will be preceded by outdoor programs with local astronomers, including the chance to look through telescopes. They’re calling the events “Movies at the Milk Bottle,” as they will take place outside the museum in Fort Point near the big Hood milk bottle. There’s a joke about the Milky Way here somewhere.

“My Sky,” which opened in July and will remain at the Children’s Museum until January 4, 2015, is a special interactive presentation funded by NASA through a partnership between the BCM and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The exhibit comprises three parts: a “skate park” where visitors can play around with our spatial relationship to the sun; a “Child’s Room” with lunar exploration and constellations; and a “Backyard” with a “day in the life of the sky” time lapse, a giant model of the moon, music inspired by the sky, and even tents and a campfire.

The two movie screenings echo the explorative nature of “My Sky,” encouraging kids to wonder what lies beyond Earth’s atmosphere and ask curious questions, such as: Is there alien life on other planets? How does space exploration inform the way we live on Earth? Will that young Drew Barrymore ever amount to anything? Can fire extinguishers really propel you in space? (Seemed to work for Sandra Bullock in Gravity.) Take your kids. Make Neil deGrasse Tyson proud.

Wall-E screening on Friday, August 29, 8:15 p.m.; E.T. screening on Friday, September 5, 8 p.m. Pre-screening events begin at 6 p.m. on both days. Screenings are free and take place on the boardwalk outside Boston Children’s Museum; blankets and lawn chairs are encouraged.

Regular museum admission is $14 for visitors, and only $1 on Fridays nights from 5 to 9 p.m. as part of Target’s $1 Friday Nights.

308 Congress St., Boston, 617-426-6500, bostonchildrensmuseum.org.