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Engaging Parents with Zippy’s Friends

Involving families in Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends is a great way to help children to use their new skills outside the classroom.

Run a meeting for parents

Before you start running Zippy’s Friends with your class, host a meeting for parents to let them know about the programme.

We’ve put together this template for a meeting which includes the background the programme, how parents can help and the chance for them to try out one of the activities.

Parents’ guides

Each set of resources for Zippy’s Friends includes 30 parent’s guides. The guide is also available to download in other languages.

Home Activities

Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends include Home Activities for every module.

These sheets are sent home at the end of each module and let children share what they’ve been learning with an adult at home.

“The children loved completing them, especially the part where their parent had to do a bit on the sheet too!”

Parents who fed back in the activities agreed they were enjoyable for both parent and child. They also helped parents to understand what their child was learning in Zippy’s Friends and to bond with their child.

The Home Activities come as standard in the Zippy’s Friends teacher’s folder and are included in every Apple pack.

Online resources

We have resilience-building activities that follow the themes of Zippy and Apple’s friends and are available for all parents, whether their child has done the programme or not. Please do share them with families or colleagues you think would find them useful.

Feedback from parents who have used the resources:

“While she is small & still learning how all her feelings 'feel' I think these tools will be really useful in helping her to communicate with me without feeling pressure to explain herself.”

“I often notice that my children can sometimes find it difficult to 'put into words' what they are thinking or feeling. They both found it incredibly easy & enjoyable to participate in the activity & did so with great enthusiasm.”

“There is nothing about this activity that they didn't enjoy & nothing that didn't work. As a parent I found it an incredibly helpful tool in learning more about what the children are thinking & feeling & would certainly recommend it to fellow mums.”

Partnership for Children
14 September 2016