Research shows that the most powerful learning happens at home, with parents being a child’s first and most important teacher. However many parents don’t realise just how important play is for children - it is actually the key to learning.

"Through play children solve problems, test out ideas and explore their imaginations..." - Carolyn Webster-Stratton, PhD

HIPPY helps parents create a fun learning environment at home where creativity is unleashed, bodies get moving and children develop a life-long love of learning.

From simple nature walks to hunt for bugs and collect leaves to experiments resulting in home-made ice cream, HIPPY is so much fun.

“Tonight we made ice-cream! Carlin did some discovering tonight, experimenting using milk and ice: ‘We shaked and shaked until the bag of milk turned into ice-cream. Yum!’” wrote mum Renee, sharing photos of all the action with her HIPPY Facebook group.

Who wouldn’t have fun making ice-cream or shaping your name in pretzel dough?

As well as sparking creativity, HIPPY also gets little bodies moving with simple games like “Body Dice”.

“We use this game for our family games night; all the family can come on board and have a laugh and use their locomotor and non-locomotor skills without even knowing it… Kids have a blast and can be pretty interesting coming up with some of the ideas on how to move!” says Candyce, a HIPPY mum.

"Body Dice"

1. Roll the Dice...

2. Read the Dice...

3. Do the action

Children love HIPPY because it’s so much fun. Parents love it because they see their children are having so much fun while they learn.

“My daughter does HIPPY programme and at the start I thought it would be a load of crap. But OMG this programme is amazing, my little girl just loves it. Something so simple as using products around the house for their little shop selling activity,” HIPPY dad, Al, commented.

HIPPY has continued through all levels of the lockdown, and parents have found the games and activities helpful for keeping their children busy.

“While we find ourselves back into lockdown Level 3, thankfully we can still do HIPPY! It can provide some really cool activities to keep the kidlets entertained...” says Candyce.

Her children love the game Hands-Free PingPong, where you have to blow the pingpong ball back and forth across a line on the table…

“It can be harder than you think to cross the line, when they concentrate on blowing without spitting… oh well, we’re in our own bubble!” she says.

Older children who have graduated HIPPY look on with envy as their younger siblings engage in all that fun learning.

“Aria misses doing HIPPY [now she’s at school], constantly asks to do some with us. I've kept some of the activities for her to do while her brother and I do ours,” Candyce says.

Having fun learning with HIPPY helps build children’s self-worth, giving them a sense of their own abilities and helping them feel good about themselves – all while learning skills like problem solving, working with others, sharing and so much more.

 

*Thank you to the mums of HIPPY Wellsford Facebook group for letting us share their stories and photos

Creating with Nature	Role-Playing a Story Book	Science experiment - "Water Walking"
Nature Collage	Making a Sensory Glitter Bottle	Sensory Glitter Bottle complete!
Making Playdough	Rainbow Results	Dinosaur Mask Making

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