History-focused Scheme of Work for EYFS

In the Early Years Foundation Stage children begin to learn that as they grow up they are increasingly able to do more things for themselves independently. This emerging knowledge and understanding can be used to explore crucial early historical skills.

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Many children within the EYFS will have younger and/or older siblings who they will see being involved in activities at a different level. This can be used to extend the children’s learning and understanding of themselves and the world around them. By the time children are in Reception they will be increasingly aware of the changes in routines during different times of the day and seasons of the year. These changes in times have an impact on what activities they can do (sleep, eat, play, home, holidays etc) as well as what they wear and what they celebrate.

This series of learning activities from Stuart Boydell is aimed to bring together a number of key learning areas that are linked to objectives and goals in the 2021 EYFS framework. They may also act as a springboard for independent exploration in other areas of the children’s learning.

The unit includes the following enquiries:

• Enquiry 1: How have I changed since I was a baby?
• Enquiry 2: Why do we wear different clothes at different times of the year?
• Enquiry 3: What are our favourite celebrations each year? 

Please note: While this unit contains resource suggestions, it is not a fully resourced scheme of work, and the resources it refers to may in some cases only be available to full members of the HA. The majority of the HA schemes of work were produced between 2014-2019 by members of the HA primary committee and its affiliates. These schemes of work are designed to support your planning and should be moulded and adapted to fit the context and needs of your own school.  To view a free sample scheme of work, please refer to our Anglo-Saxons unit. We regularly check the hyperlinks included in the schemes but unfortunately every now and again some links may go out of date. If you spot a broken link, please let us know on enquiries@history.org.uk.