Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngster (HIPPY)

Curriculum

The HIPPY curriculum is cognitively based, focusing on language development, problem solving, and perceptual discrimination skills. There are 30 easy-to-use activity packets for each age of the program. Activities take as little as 15 minutes a day for the parent and child to complete. Learning and playing are mingled throughout HIPPY’s structured curriculum as parents encourage their children to recognize shapes and colors, tell stories, follow directions, solve logical problems, and acquire other school readiness skills. Apart from building on the basic bond between parents and children, parents learn how to prepare their children for success in school and beyond.

HIPPY activities are written in a structured format comparable to a well-designed lesson plan for a novice teacher. The purpose of the structure is to assure that activities will be easy and fun for parents to implement and to create a successful learning experience between the parent and child. The curriculum is primarily cognitively-based, focusing on language development, problem solving and discrimination skills. Learning and play mingle throughout HIPPY activities, as parents help children build school readiness skills. HIPPY utilizes role playing as the method of instruction when training home visitors and parents. Role playing promotes a comfortable learning environment in which there is always room for mistakes. In addition to maximizing parent’s understanding and facility in doing the activities, it promotes parental empathy for the developmental capabilities of young children.

PARENTS

HIPPY helps parents empower themselves as their children’s first teacher by giving them the tools, skills and confidence they need to work with their children in the home. The program was designed to bring families, organizations and communities together and remove any barriers to participation that may include limited financial resources or lack of education.

For the parents in the program, HIPPY provides:

  • an enhanced sense of their own abilities;
  • the satisfaction of teaching their own children;
  • the excitement of seeing their children learn;
  • an opportunity for fun and learning with their children;
  • the support, guidance, and friendship of trained paraprofessionals; and
  • a bridge to other agencies and organizations that may help with other concerns.