HIPPY Texas

WHY HIPPY

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) offers parents support, training and materials so they can engage in effective, developmental and fun activities with their children in the comfort of their own homes. The HIPPY program works because it is based on a well-designed curriculum, parents learn by doing and children love the special time with their parents.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

We believe parents are a child’s first teacher and every child should enter kindergarten prepared for school and ready to learn. Through the delivery of the HIPPY curriculum home visitors empower parents to build strong relationships with their children through activities and engagement that prepare them for school. Every parent wants their child to succeed in school and life, HIPPY inspires and promotes interactions that lead to success.

 WHAT WE TEACH

HIPPY is a developmentally appropriate, early literacy curriculum designed to promote children’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. The curriculum consists of a set of easy-to-use educational activity packets and storybooks developed for parents of children ages 2-5. Parents engage with the curriculum by role playing the parent-child activities with a home visitor who is from the same community, and often a former HIPPY parent. All home visitors are supervised by a professionally trained program coordinator.

CURRICULUM

The HIPPY curriculum is written for parents so they can be confident in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher. The curriculum provides detailed instructions for parents to introduce new concepts and skills to their child, steps to follow in presenting the activity, questions to ask, and tips to extend and adapt the activity to their child’s specific interests. Parents receive weekly support from their home visitor which allows them to engage in the parent-child activities with confidence.

The activities are designed around core learning domains of literacy and language, math and science, motor development and social emotional growth. The HIPPY curriculum is available for parents with children ages 2 – 5.  Each year includes 30 weeks of activity packets and accompanying storybooks. The entire curriculum is available in English and Spanish and in both print and digital formats.

HIPPY is a curriculum of exposure to skills, concepts, and experiences with books that together constitute “school readiness” for young children. Skills and concepts are developed through a variety of activities including reading, writing and drawing, listening and talking, singing and rhyming, playing games, cooking and sewing, shapes and colors, puzzles and more.

HOME VISITOR

The HIPPY program is delivered by home visitors who are members of the community served and were also parents in the program. They visit parents in their homes each week to role play the curriculum. Home visitors are crucial to the HIPPY model. Their knowledge of the language, culture, and uniqueness of the community allows them to develop trusting relationships with the families while promoting equity and increasing parents’ confidence.