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Zippy’s Friends
26/08/2009
Tool Information
Tool Description
Zippy's Friends is a programme for schools that helps children – five, six & seven years old to develop coping and social skills. The programme is built around a set of six stories. Zippy is a stick insect and his friends are a group of young children, and the stories show them confronting issues that are familiar to young children - friendship, communication, feeling lonely, bullying, dealing with change and loss, and making a new start. Each story is illustrated by brightly coloured pictures. It usually runs for 24 weeks, with one 45-minute session each week. Zippy´s Friends is based on extensive research and has been evaluated in many countries. It has also been endorsed by the WHO and national governments.Tool Characteristics
Application in the Field: Applied internationally
Tool mainly used in: United Kingdom
Stage of Development: Well established
Evaluation and Research: Studies/Technical Data available
Beneficiary Involvement in Design: No information found
Evaluation Description
The international study (evaluation summary attached here) was conducted in Denmark (322 children) and Lithuania (314 children), testing the programme in different languages, different grade levels and very different types of school environment. The effects of the programme were assessed by teachers´ratings and by trained interviewers before and after the programme. It was concluded that Zippy's Friends has the significant effects of improving children´s abilities to cope with everyday adversities, increasing some social skills and emphathy, and decreasing behaviour problems´. Social atmosphere in the class was found to be improved, and even the teachers had learned to cope better with their own problems.
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