HIPPY Materials and Activities
The HIPPY programme was designed so parents who may not feel comfortable in their own abilities to teach their children can recognise their strengths and obtain new knowledge and skills to teach their children at home and support them throughout their formal education at school.
Parents and children work together on a carefully scaffolded series of 60 activity packets. These workbooks are set out like lesson plans for the parent and are designed to ensure a successful learning experience for the parent and child working together.
Through the developmentally appropriate, well-supported activities, parents work with their children to develop cognitive skills including language, problem-solving, logical thinking, perceptual and other school readiness skills. The 18 storybooks they read and talk about together help develop a love of literacy. Parents are encouraged to build on the information in the activities in all areas of their children’s lives.
All the activities can be linked to the learning outcomes in the early childhood curriculum framework, Te Whaariki, or the New Zealand Curriculum Framework (for primary schools).
HIPPY Staff and Delivery Method
Some parents who are currently working on HIPPY with their own child, or who have recently completed the HIPPY programme, train to become paraprofessional HIPPY tutors. They in turn coach other parents by showing them how to use the HIPPY materials with their own children.
The tutors are trained and supported by a local coordinator. They meet each week to work through the next workbook that they will deliver to the parents at a home visit, or on alternate weeks at a group meeting.
During the weekly training sessions, the tutors are afforded many opportunities to build on their experience and gain knowledge and skills that they will take to the workplace, or to further study, after their two years as a HIPPY tutor.
The weekly Home Visits ensure all families are able to participate in HIPPY. The home is the child’s primary learning environment. It is a comfortable environment, and childcare and transport are not barriers.
Because HIPPY Tutors are from the same community and have young children, they have a deep understanding of the families they are supporting, and form trusting relationships. The tutors become role models for other parents, many of whom may become HIPPY tutors themselves.
HIPPY is based on the premise that parents are their children’s first and most important teachers. It is unique in that parents, through participation, develop the skills and confidence to take on this important role, so not only do the children benefit but so do the parents.
Benefits for HIPPY children
- HIPPY encourages a love of learning
- HIPPY children arrive at school ready to learn and settle into the learning environment
- HIPPY children score better on measures of literacy, numeracy and understanding appropriate school behaviour than their non-HIPPY peers
- HIPPY children retain their competency in reading and numeracy skills
Benefits for HIPPY parents
- HIPPY parents are more likely than their peers to engage in positive educational activities with their children
- HIPPY parents are more likely than their peers to become involved in school activities with their children
- HIPPY parents are more likely than their peers to seek further education for themselves
- HIPPY creates employment and training opportunities
Benefits for HIPPY families
- Helps create a learning environment at home
- Increases parents’ knowledge of child development and the way children learn
- Provides parents with opportunities to enjoy positive time with their children
- Enables parents to be actively involved in their children’s education
- Supports parents to meet regularly and promotes a sense of inclusion and connectedness with their community
- Increases parents’ self-confidence
- Has an overall positive impact on family relationships
- Promotes language and listening skills and develops concentration
- Builds self-esteem and confidence in learning
- Improves communication between parents and children