A list of tropes that are unique to children's shows, that tend not to occur (or occur rarely, or for ironic reasons) in adult shows. Compare Saturday-Morning Cartoon and Saturday Morning Kids’ Show.
Tropes:
- All Balloons Have Helium
- Amusing Injuries: Injuries that are Played for Laughs.
- An Aesop: A lesson delivered at the end of an episode, typically meant to encourage the audience.
- Captain Obvious Aesop: A lesson that was incredibly obvious that it didn't even have to be pointed out.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle
- "Anger Is Healthy" Aesop: A lesson where it's healthy to express anger as long as you don't hurt anyone or take it too far.
- Anvil on Head
- Asinine Alternate Activity: Sets up a conflict between what the kid wants to do and what they're allowed to do.
- Badbutt
- Balloonacy
- Balloon-Bursting Bird: Birds' beaks bust balloons.
- Baths Are Fun: Bathing is considered fun due to bubble baths and bath toys.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Character makes childish insults because anything beyond would be considered offensive.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Character speaks to the audience.
- Children Are Special: Children have feats that are exclusive to them.
- Competence Zone: A certain age range is portrayed as competent while others are useless.
- Curse Cut Short: Swear words are cut off midway through.
- Deliberately Cute Child: A child uses their endearing nature as a manipulation tactic.
- Demographically Inappropriate Humour: A joke that is inappropriate for a children's audience.
- The Dinnermobile: Food-shaped cars appear quite a bit throughout children's media.
- Disney Death: A character appears to die, but it is then revealed that they have actually survived.
- Disney Villain Death: The villain dies by falling from a height.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending
- Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: No matter what they do, the characters wear helmets, seatbelts, etc., to teach children to be safe.
- First Day of School Episode: An episode about a character's first day of school. May be used in shows aimed at a younger audience to teach them what to expect at school.
- Food-Based Superpowers: A character has weird superpowers centered around food.
- Forced Bath: Someone is forced by several people to take a bath.
- Fourth Wall Greeting: A character breaks the fourth wall by greeting the audience.
- Free Prize at the Bottom: Cereal boxes contain free prizes.
- Friendship Song: The characters sing a song about friends.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Because, the more mature the media, the more they can get away with.
- "Getting Ready for Bed" Plot: A story about a character's bedtime routine.
- Girls Have Cooties: Girls and boys are portrayed in separate social circles on account of the former carrying a virus.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Euphemisms are used in place of foul language.
- Go to Your Room!: A parent punishes their child by sending them to their room.
- Grade-School C.E.O.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Gravity won't work 'til you look down.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Envy is relative to evil.
- Grounded Forever: A character is grounded for an obstructive time period.
- Imaginary Friend: A child has a friend who cannot be seen by others.
- Injection Plot: A child needs to get a shot.
- Injured Limb Episode: A character either breaks a bone or sprains a body part. Often used in children's television to show viewers that injuries can happen to anybody, even children.
- Internet Safety Aesop: Think before you post, never give away personal information, and never meet up with strangers from the internet.
- Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
- Kid Detective: Children who are detectives.
- Kid Hero: Children and teenagers who are portrayed as heroic.
- Kids Block: A programming block dedicated to children's programming.
- Kids Love Dinosaurs: A child character is obsessed with dinosaurs.
- Kids Play Match Breaker
- Kids Play Matchmaker
- Little Professor Dialog: Child speaks in very adult vocabulary.
- Live on Stage!: A show, usually based on a children's franchise, that is temporary and is usually produced on a limited budget.
- Living Dust Bunnies: Dust bunnies are depicted as animals.
- Loose Tooth Episode: A young child has a wiggly baby tooth.
- Merchandise-Driven: A kids' show is made to sell merchandise.
- Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: A common moral in children's television is to have a character learn that mistakes aren't really as bad as they seem to be.
- Moniker As Enticement: A child is forced to do a certain task by being told that they'll be given a special title if they do it correctly.
- The Moving Experience
- Never Say "Die": "Die" is such a strong word that it is in need of a euphemism.
- Nobody Can Die: Death is portrayed as impossible or incomprehensible to make a work more family-friendly.
- Not My Lucky Day: A character has a day where many bad things happen to them.
- Patience Plot: Often used to teach a lesson about patience to the audience.
- Pirate Episode: An episode in which the characters become pirates.
- Platonic Boy/Girl Heroes
- Princess Protagonist: Not exclusive to kids shows, but ubiquitous in stories aimed at little girls.
- Product-Promotion Parade: Scenes meant to promote tie-in merchandise made for the show.
- Propeller Hat of Whimsy: Propeller hats as a visual shorthand for whimsical and/or youthful people.
- Puppy Love: Prepubescent children who fall in love.
- Remote Control Ruckus: Two or more characters (usually children) fight over a remote control when they can't agree on what TV show to watch.
- Scary Shadow Fakeout
- "Sesame Street" Cred: A celebrity has a guest role on a children's television show.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Siblings whose personalities contrast one another.
- Simpleminded Wisdom: Wise words come from naive mouths.
- Slow and Steady Wins the Race
- Slumber Party: A character sleeps over at someone else's house.
- Steam Never Dies
- Subverted Kids' Show
- Swear Word Plot: A child character accidentally learns a swear word, only to learn that it's not nice to swear.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Children will learn about workplaces and different jobs from workers on the job site. Said workers are never busy with duties and have all the time in the world to stop and talk about how they do their job with the children.
- The Resolution Will Not Be Identified: The last episode of a kids' show does not mention it is the Grand Finale.
- The Tonsillitis Episode
- Toilet Training Plot: Often seen in shows meant for preschoolers to convince them to use the toilet by themselves.
- What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: When children's media contains questionable content that some people may find inappropriate for its target audience.
- Wrap-Up Song: The show closes each episode with a particular song.
- You Are Grounded!: Grounding as a form of punishment.
