History Heartwarming / Recess

* T.J.'s "best friend" essay.

* Also, the ending when the gang all apoligize to each other after calling each other names, and re-affirm their satus as being [[TrueComanions best friends]].

* The first episode, "The Break-In" counts a little. It may be like the average episode, but seeing the other four kids (Gus wasn't in the episode) going through drastic measures to get T.J. out of detention shows how much they care for him, and it kinda warms your heart a little.

* Right after T.J. and the gang finish their tour of the school to Gus in "The New Kid", Gus begins crying because he's been to twelve schools in the past six years, yet no one has ever been so nice to him before.
** The gang getting Gus's name back (After having to be called "New Kid" due to the constitution of the playground) by getting all the kids to call him by his name and just making him feel welcome in general, after days of being ignored.
* Even though at the end of "The Experiment", T.J. and Spinelli were grossed out after their TestKiss, their kiss was still an adorable scene (And it's also implied that they really ''did'' enjoy it).

** And the reason why Old Rusty was so important to T.J.: That's where he met the other four kids in kindergarten on the first day of school.
* The ending of "Big Brother Chad", where Vince accepts the fact that Chad is a geek.

* "Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye": After Speedy the class hamster dies, T.J. makes sure that they give him a proper sendoff by giving him a funeral during recess. Doubles as a TearJerker.
* "Randall's Reform": Randall just got used to being in T.J.'s pack when he finds out that Miss Finster has a new snitch, Douglas. Because of this, Randall is jealous and sad, and goes over onto a swing to cry. T.J. finds him upset, and tells him that he should go back to being Finster's snitch.

* The ending of "The Great Can Drive": [[spoiler:After an entire episode of competing against each other for the can drive, the kids in Miss Grotke's class (The Recess Gang and the other kids in the episode) and Miss Furley's class (The Ashleys are the main concern in the episode) decide to work together to help Mikey with the can drive]]
* "The Voice" straddles the line between Tearjerker and CMOH. One one hand, Mikey's relationship with Ms. Salimony (the music teacher who teaches him to believe in himself so that he can discover his repressed singing talent) is one big CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. But the end, in which Mikey realizes that he's genuinely ''in love'' with an engaged 25 year-old woman, never fails to make me choke up. The final scene, where he sings "Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen" while gazing longingly at Salimony and saying farewell to her, hits both ends.
* Spinelli deciding to join Swinger Girl on the swingset at the end of "Swing on Thru to the Other Side"

* T.J.'s "best friend" essay in "The Break-Up"
** And the reason why he had trouble writing it in the beginning of the episode (which caused his friends to leave him): he can't choose which one is his "best" friend, he loves them all the same.
** Also, the ending when the gang all apoligize to each other after calling each other names, and re-affirm their satus as being [[TrueComanions best friends]].
* The beginning of "Mama's Girl" gives us a really sweet and adorable bonding moment between Spinelli and Miss Grotke that definitely qualifies for this trope.

** T.J. being the first to stand up for Spinelli by calling Miss Grotke "Mama". He eventually gets the rest of the class to join in, making her feel a lot better. Cut to the end of the day, [[ShipTease and he's got his arm wrapped around her shoulder, looking into her eyes]].
* They might be jerks, but the flashback to how the Ashleys met and became friends as preschoolers in "Outcast Ashley" was adorable. It starts when Ashley A.'s hat is blown off by the wind while at the playground, causing her to chase after it, and bumping into the other girls all chasing after their hats, too.

* The ending of "Gus's Last Stand": "I think little Belgium has earned himself an ice-cream cone"
** Earlier in the episode- Gelman is beating Gus to a pulp, when T.J. steps in and stands up for Gus, saying that Gelman will have to beat him and the gang up too if he attacks Gus. And then the entire student body joins in. Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* After overhearing Spinelli calling her boring in "Weekend at Muriel's", when Spinelli has to stay over Miss Finster's house while her parents are on vacation (After finding out that she was friends with her grandmother), Miss Finster decides to have a luau for them to prove that she's not so boring after all. When it cuts to Miss Finster driving Spinelli to school a few days later, they both talk about how fun their weekend was together.

* In "Dance Lessons", Spinelli decides not to appear in the recital because the rest of the kids made fun of the recital, not knowing she was going to be in it. After noticing that this meant that Mikey would be left without a dancing partner, and not going to be able to perform, she comes back for him.

* One Stayed Clean, non-stop. Gus' family has moved a lot so he finally gets a chance to get a school picture, and wants to make his family proud by staying clean. T.J. and the others work together to keep him clean and give him closure, Randall surprisingly (and unintentionally) calms him down with his harmonica music, and by the end of the episode, [[spoiler: he sacrifices his clean self for T.J.]], not to mention [[spoiler:the letter T.J. wrote to his dad about picture day, and how he's proud to be his friend]]. It's an AffectionateParody of ''SavingPrivateRyan'' and it works.

* The ending of Kindergarten Derby for anyone who's ever been the "fat kid" in his/her class.
* The ending of "Buried Treasure."

* The end of "The Madness of King Bob" when TJ endures [[{{ZeroApprovalGambit}} public humiliation]] at the hands of King Bob in order to [[{{SomeoneHasToDie}} save the playground]]. He essentially sacrifices himself for all the kids who mock him, and to top it all refuses to tell ''anyone'' [[{{SelfSacrificeScheme}}about what he did]].
* The ending of "Bachelor Gus", when Gus's parents find him alone and scared in the playground after he ran away and set up his own home inside Old Rusty, due to him believing that they were moving away again. They explain to him that they were just moving him into a bigger bedroom, and walk home together. The final lines are the sweetest part:

* "Spinelli's Masterpiece"; in an effort to calm her notorious temper, Spinelli starts drawing on the blacktop with colored chalk, and ends up creating an elaborate piece of art. The rest of the gang fight to prevent anyone from destroying the drawing, inviting all the kids to the top of the jungle gym where they can get the best view of her creation. By the end of the episode, even Mrs. Finster and Principal Prickly are suitably impressed. Spinelli caps off her work with a portrait of herself with her friends. Although the drawing was a labor of love for her, at the end of the episode Spinelli declares, "It's just a stupid chalk drawing."
* In "A Great State Fair", Gus nearly misses out on his first chance to go to a state fair because his dad forgot to hand back his permission form for the field trip, but T.J. vows that he'll find some way to get him there. Despite being on one of the funnest field trips of his life, and despite being told repeatedly that all of his {{zany scheme}}s to rescue Gus from the school (including, but not limited to, tying a message to a dove's leg and trying to get to the interstate in a bumper car) are completely ridiculous, T.J. refuses to enjoy himself until he can do it with Gus at his side--which, against all odds, he finally does.

** Also, Gus ensuring that his old bully nemesis Gelman (who was in detention with him) also goes to the fair, since he's learned from his dad that "no man gets left behind". This even prompts Gelman to [[HeelFaceTurn actually befriend Gus.]]
* T.J. and Vince making up at the end of "The A.V. Kid" after competing for the position of A.V. kid for the entire episode.
* Spinelli helping Cornchip Girl draw a cat in "Spinelli's Masterpiece". Though somewhat minor, Spinelli acting like a big sister figure is adorable in that scene.
* I don't know why, but I always get the warm fuzzies seeing Mikey cradling T.J. in his arms (after the latter got a black eye) in "Prince Randall".
** The moment prior to this, when T.J is sentenced to the Dodgeball wall is equally heartwarming: Instead of begging for help his last words to his friends are: "Find King Bob!" Inches from the worst punishment on the playground, all he's worried about is saving the other kids from Randall and putting the rightful ruler back on the throne.

* Gus and Cornchip Girl's friendship in "The Army/Navy Game"

* The ending of "Big Brother Chad"

* Even though at the end of "The Experiment", T.J. and Spinelli were grossed out after their TestKiss, it's still an adorable scene (And it's also implied that they really ''did'' enjoy it)

* The ending of "The Great Can Drive": [[spoiler:After an entire episode of competing against each other for the can drive, the kids in Miss Grotke's class (The Recess Gang and the other kids in the episode) and Miss Furley's class (The Ashleys are the main concern in the episode) decide to work together to help Mikey with the can drive]]

* Right after T.J. and the gang finish their tour of the school to Gus in "The New Kid",

* Come on, "We shall not, we shall not be moved..."

* The end of "The Madness of King Bob" when TJ endures [[{{ZeroApprovalGambit}} public humiliation]] at the hands of King Bob in order to [[{{SomeoneHasToDie}} save the playground]]. He essentially sacrifices himself for all the kids who mock him, and to top it all refuses to tell ''anyone'' [[{{SelfSacrificeScheme}}about what he did]].
* T.J.'s "best friend" essay in "The Break-Up"
** And the reason why he had trouble writing it in the beginning of the episode (which caused his friends to leave him): he can't choose which one is his "best" friend, he loves them all the same.
* I don't know why, but I always get the warm fuzzies seeing Mikey cradling T.J. in his arms (after the latter got a black eye) in "Prince Randall".
** The moment prior to this, when T.J is sentenced to the Dodgeball wall is equally heartwarming: Instead of begging for help his last words to his friends are: "Find King Bob!" Inches from the worst punishment on the playground, all he's worried about is saving the other kids from Randall and putting the rightful ruler back on the throne.
* The first episode, "The Break-In" counts a little. It may be like the average episode, but seeing the other four kids (Gus wasn't in the episode) going through drastic measures to get T.J. out of detention shows how much they care for him, and it kinda warms your heart a little.
* The ending of "Bachelor Gus"

* The beginning of "Mama's Girl" gives us a really sweet and adorable bonding moment between Spinelli and Miss Grotke that definitely qualifies for this trope.
** In fact, the whole reason why Spinelli called Miss Grotke "mama" is pretty heartwarming itself. Spinelli feels really close to her, like she's her mom (since Spinelli's real mom usually embarrasses her and forces her into girly activities). Cue awws.
** T.J. being the first to stand up for Spinelli by calling Miss Grotke "Mama". He eventually gets the rest of the class to join in, making her feel a lot better. Cut to the end of the day, [[ShipTease and he's got his arm wrapped around her shoulder, looking into her eyes]].
* The ending of Kindergarten Derby for anyone who's ever been the "fat kid" in his/her class.

* One Stayed Clean, non-stop. Gus' family has moved a lot so he finally gets a chance to get a school picture, and wants to make his family proud by staying clean. T.J. and the others work together to keep him clean and give him closure, Randall surprisingly (and unintentionally) calms him down with his harmonica music, and by the end of the episode, [[spoiler: he sacrifices his clean self for T.J.]], not to mention [[spoiler: the letter T.J. wrote to his dad about picture day, and how he's proud to be his friend]]. It's an AffectionateParody of ''SavingPrivateRyan'' and it works.
-->Gus' Dad: That's my son, right there in the middle with his first class picture ever. If you asked me, soldier, well... I'd say he's never looked better.
* "Spinelli's Masterpiece"; in an effort to calm her notorious temper, Spinelli starts drawing on the blacktop with colored chalk, and ends up creating an elaborate piece of art. The rest of the gang fight to prevent anyone from destroying the drawing, inviting all the kids to the top of the jungle gym where they can get the best view of her creation. By the end of the episode, even Mrs. Finster and Principal Prickly are suitably impressed. Spinelli caps off her work with a portrait of herself with her friends. Although the drawing was a labor of love for her, at the end of the episode Spinelli declares, "It's just a stupid chalk drawing."
* In "A Great State Fair", Gus nearly misses out on his first chance to go to a state fair because his dad forgot to hand back his permission form for the field trip, but T.J. vows that he'll find some way to get him there. Despite being on one of the funnest field trips of his life, and despite being told repeatedly that all of his {{zany scheme}}s to rescue Gus from the school (including, but not limited to, tying a message to a dove's leg and trying to get to the interstate in a bumper car) are completely ridiculous, T.J. refuses to enjoy himself until he can do it with Gus at his side--which, against all odds, he finally does.
-->"Guys, this morning I promised my friend Gus I'd get him to the fair. [[{{Determinator}} And I will]] ''[[{{Determinator}} not]]'' [[{{Determinator}} enjoy myself until I do!]]"
** Also, Gus ensuring that his old bully nemesis Gelman (who was in detention with him) also goes to the fair, since he's learned from his dad that "no man gets left behind". This even prompts Gelman to [[HeelFaceTurn actually befriend Gus.]]
* In the movie "School's Out', the gang singing 'John jacob jingleheimer schmidt'. One of the most moving displays of child friendship this troper has seen on TV.
** Everything concerning TJ and Principal Prickly's relationship in that movie qualifies too.

* "I think little Belgium has earned himself an ice-cream cone"
* The ending of "Buried Treasure."

* "I think little Belgium has earned himself an ice-cream cone"

-->'''T.J.:'''You only get a few good friends in your life, friends who like you for who you are, friends you like for who they are, and being popular is no reason to give up a friend like that, even if that friend is a 200-pound gargoyle in orthopedic shoes.

** And because they all wore purple the day they met, they made it a tradition to wear purple every anniversary of that day.

* I don't know why, but I always get the warm fuzzies seeing Mikey cradling T.J. in his arms (after the latter got a black eye) in "Prince Randall".

* "The Voice" straddles the line between Tearjerker and CMOH. One one hand, Mikey's relationship with Ms. Salimony (the music teacher who teaches him to believe in himself so that he can discover his repressed singing talent) is one big CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. But the end, in which Mikey realizes that he's genuinely ''in love'' with an engaged 25 year-old woman, never fails to make me choke up. The final scene, where he sings "Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen" while gazing longingly at Salimony and saying farewell to her, hits both ends.

* "The Voice" straddles the line between Tearjerker and CMOH. One one hand, Mikey's relationship with Mrs. Salimony (the music teacher who teaches him to believe in himself so that he can discover his repressed singing talent) is one big CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. But the end, in which Mikey realizes that he's genuinely ''in love'' with an engaged 25 year-old woman, never fails to make me choke up. The final scene, where he sings "Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen" while gazing longingly at Salimony and saying farewell to her, hits both ends.

* In the movie "School's Out', the gang singing 'John jacob jingleheimer schmidt'. One of the most moving displays of child friendship this troper has seen on TV.

* One Stayed Clean, non-stop. Gus' family has moved a lot so he finally gets a chance to get a school picture, and wants to make his family proud by staying clean. T.J. and the others work together to keep him clean and give him closure, Randall surprisingly (and unintentionally) calms him down with his harmonica music, and by the end of the episode, [[spoiler: he sacrifices his clean self for T.J.]], not to mention [[spoiler: the letter T.J. wrote to his dad about picture day, and how he's proud to be his friend.]] It's an AffectionateParody of ''SavingPrivateRyan'' and it works.

-->"Guys, this morning I promised my friend Gus I'd get him to the fair. [[{{Determinator}} And I will]] ''[[{{Determinator}} not]]'' [[{{Determinator}} enjoy myself until I do!]]"

* One Stayed Clean, non-stop. Gus' family has moved a lot so he finally gets a chance to get a school picture, and wants to make his family proud by staying clean. T.J. and the others work together to keep him clean and give him closure, Randall surprisingly (and unintentionally) calms him down with his harmonica music, and by the end of the episode, [[spoiler: he sacrifices his clean self for T.J.]], not to mention [[spoiler: the letter T.J. wrote to his dad about picture day, and how he's proud to be his friend.]] It's an AffectionateParody of SavingPrivateRyan and it works.

* "Spinelli's Masterpiece"; in an effort to calm her notorious temper, Spinelli starts drawing on the blacktop with colored chalk, and ends up creating an elaborate piece of art. The rest of the gang fight to prevent anyone from destroying the drawing, inviting all the kids to the top of the jungle gym where they can get the best view of her creation. By the end of the episode, even Mrs. Finster and Principal Prickly are suitably impressed. Spinelli caps off her work with a portrait of herself with her friends. Although the drawing was a labor of love for her, at the end of the episode Spinelli declares, "It's just a stupid chalk drawing."

-->Gus' Dad: That's my son, right there in the middle with his first class picture ever. If you asked me, soldier, well... I'd say he's never looked better.

** The sweetest part? T.J.'s being a sweetheart to kids who he would consider his ''enemies''.

* The ending of TheMovie
* This troper for some reason finds the whole scene where the main six are in the treehouse in TheMovie and singing "John Jacob Jinglehimer Shmidt" pretty sweet, especially Gretchen and Gus wrapping their arms around each other happily.

** And the reason why he had trouble writing it in the begining of the episode (which caused his friends to leave him): he can't choose which one is his "best" friend, he loves them all the same.

* Principal Prickly's speech in TheMovie which manages to convince TJ not to give up saving summer vacation, while revealing the fact that Prickly himself was once a carefree kid just like TJ.
--> '''Prickly:''' "I'll let you in on a little secret, Detweiller. Every adult you've ever known was a kid at sometime in his life. You think we don't remember summer vacation? Riding our bikes down the creek. Catching polliwogs in a jar. Camping out under the stars. Well you're wrong! Sometimes I sit there in my office, looking out at you kids in the playground and I think, "They don't know how good they got it. In a few years, they'll be grownups like me and all those good times will be memories for them, too". So go ahead. Put a whoopie-cushion in my chair. Put fake vomit on my carpet. Make fun of my "big, saggy butt". But don't ever say I don't care about summer vacation, 'cause those memories are the last part of childhood I got left."
** Doubles as a TearJerker.

* The begining of "Mama's Girl" gives us a really sweet and adorable bonding moment between Spinelli and Miss Grotke that definetly qualifies for this trope.

* In ''RecessSchoolsOut'', most of the teachers' reactions to the kids leaving are pretty indifferent. Miss Grotke on the other hand, is ''crying''. D'aww.

-->'''T.J.:'''You only get a few good friends in your life, friends who like you for who you are, friends you like for who they are, and being popular is no reason to give up a friend like that, even if that friend is a 200-pound gargoyle in orthepedic shoes.