Contact
Pasadena HIPPY
1845 N. Fair Oaks Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91103
Phone: (626) 744-6198
Email: hippy@cityofpasadena.net
Program Overview
Pasadena Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home-based educational enrichment program for parents of children 3-5 years old. The program uses an evidence-based curriculum to help parents prepare their children for success in school and life. The HIPPY Curriculum contains 30 weekly activity packets, a set of storybooks, and a set of 20 colored shapes for each year. The program uses trained community-based home instructors who go into the home. These home instructors role-play the activities with the parents and support each family throughout their participation in the program. Parents spend 15-20 minutes each day completing the activities with their child. Families also receive personalized support from a public health nurse and a licensed mental health provider.
Goals
- Increase parents’ confidence to prepare their children for success in school.
- Improve children’s physical health and social and emotional development.
Program Delivery
As a parent, you have what it takes to make a meaningful and lasting difference in your child’s life. Spending at least fifteen minutes each day with your child will make a difference in how well your child performs in school when he/she enters kindergarten. Pasadena HIPPY will teach you how to make the most of your time together so your child will be successful upon entering school and beyond.
The HIPPY program provides weekly, hour-long home visits for 30 weeks a year. Meetings take place in the parent’s home or virtually via smartphone or computer. During this time, a trained home instructor will:
- Guide you through a carefully developed school readiness curriculum
- Practice role playing activities that you can do with your child at home
- Strengthen your child’s cognitive, early literacy, social/emotional and physical development
- Measure your child’s progress toward school readiness
Once per month, we also host group meetings where families can gather and learn together.
You and your family will also have access to support and services from a dedicated public health nurse and licensed mental health provider.
The HIPPY curriculum focuses on language development, problem solving, and other cognitive 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 play are mingled throughout HIPPY's curriculum as parents encourage their children to recognize shapes and colors, tell stories, follow directions, solve logical problems, and acquire other school readiness skills.
HIPPY uses role-playing as the method of instruction when training parents. Role-playing encourages a comfortable learning environment in which there is always room for mistakes. In addition to increasing parent's understanding and skill in completing educational activities, it helps parents to recognize and monitor their child’s overall development.
Children will develop many skills with HIPPY. Each week’s set of five lessons include instruction in:
- Literacy
- Math
- Fine/gross motor skills
- Science
- Language development
Children will learn reading concepts such as how to predict what a story will be about using the pictures and how to listen to gain information. Math lessons will teach concepts such as counting, the meaning of numbers, sorting, etc. All of the lessons are fun and interactive, so that the children will be excited to do them each week.
There is no cost for families to participate in HIPPY. However, low-income families and families with children not currently enrolled in a high-quality preschool program will be prioritized. Parents will be asked to complete an application and submit a few required documents to enroll. Parents are required to commit to interacting for 15-20 minutes each day with their child using HIPPY strategies and materials.
Thank you for your interest in the Pasadena Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program!
Please answer a few questions to let us know a little more about you and your child. After you complete this form, you will be contacted by HIPPY program staff to get you started on your HIPPY journey!