The following is a list of local children's television shows in the United States. Local children's television series were locally produced commercial television programming intended for the child audience with unique hosts and themes. This type of programming began in the late 1940s and continued into the late 1970s; some shows continued into the 1990s. Tim Hollis documented about 1,400 local children's shows in a 2002 book, Hi There, Boys and Girls!
The television programs typically aired in the weekday mornings before school or afternoons after school as well as on weekends (to a lesser degree). There were different formats. Almost all shows had a colorful host who assumed a persona such as a cowboy/cowgirl, captain, princess, clown, sheriff, magician, or "uncle", whose role was not only to be the "DJ" for syndicated material (typically cartoons, although westerns were more popular earlier on) but also to entertain, often with a live television studio audience of kids, during breaks.
Early program fare included cartoon favorites such as Crusader Rabbit, Popeye, Bugs Bunny, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mighty Mouse, Porky Pig, Deputy Dawg, The Funny Company, and Clutch Cargo as well as movie shorts such as Our Gang/The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges. Some included educational segments like the portraits of wildlife in Nature's Window.