Past and Present
EYFSUW-R-D001
Developing awareness of the past and how it differs from the present, using family stories, books and settings to understand chronological change and similarity across time.
National Curriculum context
Past and Present is Early Learning Goal 13 within the Understanding the World Specific Area. At the end of Reception, children are expected to talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society; know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class; and understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling. This ELG is the foundational precursor to KS1 History: it establishes the key concepts of chronological language, change over time, and narrative as historical evidence. The emphasis on family stories and books means that children's prior knowledge and home literacy practices are explicitly legitimised as historical sources. Past and Present does not count towards the Good Level of Development calculation, but its developmental significance is substantial — children who leave Reception with a secure sense of 'before and after' and 'then and now' are markedly better equipped for the formal chronological demands of KS1 History.
3
Concepts
1
Clusters
0
Prerequisites
3
With difficulty levels
Lesson Clusters
Practice: Chronological Language, Stories as Historical Windows, Similarities and Differences Across Time
practiceConcepts (3)
Chronological Language
skill AI FacilitatedUW-R-C001
The vocabulary and grammatical structures used to locate events and situations in time and to express temporal relationships — including past tense forms ('was', 'used to', 'long ago', 'in the past', 'before', 'when I was little', 'in those days') and contrast markers ('now', 'these days', 'today'). At EYFS, children develop chronological language primarily through oral storytelling, family oral history, and discussion of books set in the past. Mastery at this stage means using past and present tense vocabulary correctly to describe change over time in oral contexts, before writing is expected.
Teaching guidance
Model chronological language explicitly and consistently in every discussion about the past. Use dual-image comparison materials (then/now photographs) and talk through them using the target vocabulary. Read aloud books set in the past and pause to use 'once', 'long ago', 'back then' and 'now' in discussion. Family photographs brought from home provide a highly motivating context. Invite grandparents or community elders to talk about 'when they were young' — children's questions to visitors naturally elicit chronological vocabulary.
Common misconceptions
Children often use 'old' as a synonym for both 'in the past' and 'worn out' or 'ugly', and 'new' as a synonym for 'better'. They may compress all of history into a single undifferentiated 'olden days'. Using family oral history helps calibrate the sense of time scale: grandparent's childhood is much closer than the Great Fire of London.
Difficulty levels
Beginning to use words like 'yesterday', 'today', 'tomorrow', 'before' and 'after', though not always accurately.
Example task
Ask the child: 'What did you do yesterday?' Observe whether they use past-tense language and time vocabulary.
Model response: 'Yesterday I went to the shops with Mummy.' — uses 'yesterday' and past tense correctly.
Sometimes using chronological language accurately to sequence events in their own life and in stories.
Example task
Tell me about your morning using time words: first, then, after that, finally.
Model response: 'First I woke up. Then I had breakfast. After that I brushed my teeth. Finally Mummy took me to school.'
Using past, present and future language confidently to talk about events, comparisons and changes, with accurate vocabulary.
Example task
Show the child baby photos and current photos. 'How have you changed? What could you do then that you can't now? What can you do now?'
Model response: 'When I was a baby I couldn't walk or talk. Now I can read and ride my bike. In the future I want to learn to swim. I've changed a lot — I used to be tiny and now I'm big!'
Delivery rationale
EYFS concept for 4-5 year olds — AI can deliver structured activities via voice/touch but adult facilitates physical tasks and monitors engagement.
Similarities and Differences Across Time
knowledge AI FacilitatedUW-R-C002
The ability to identify specific ways in which daily life, objects, environments and people's roles have changed from the past to the present, and specific ways in which they have remained the same. This concept — change and continuity — is the foundational organising idea of all historical thinking. At EYFS it is introduced through direct comparison of observable artefacts, photographs and stories rather than through abstract chronological reasoning. Mastery is demonstrated when a child can articulate both a specific change ('cars are different now — they used to be very noisy and slow') and a specific continuity ('people have always needed somewhere to live').
Teaching guidance
Use paired comparison activities as the primary teaching approach: a Victorian schoolroom photograph alongside a photograph of the classroom; a horse-drawn cart alongside a modern lorry; a dial telephone alongside a smartphone. Ask three questions systematically: 'What has changed? What has stayed the same? Why do you think it changed?' Avoid framing all change as progress — some things were lost as well as gained.
Common misconceptions
Children naturally focus on differences and need prompting to identify continuities. They often assume all historical change represents improvement ('better now than before'), which is worth challenging gently through discussion of things that may have been lost (community, craftsmanship, outdoor play).
Difficulty levels
Beginning to notice that things were different 'in the old days' when shown photographs or objects from the past.
Example task
Show an old telephone and a smartphone. 'What do you notice about these two things?'
Model response: 'That one is big and has a wire. My mummy's phone is small and has a screen.' The child identifies physical differences.
Sometimes identifying specific things that have changed and things that have stayed the same when comparing past and present.
Example task
Compare these photos of our school from long ago and now. What has changed? What is the same?
Model response: 'The building is the same but it looks cleaner now. The children wore different clothes — some were in aprons. But they're still playing in the playground like us.'
Comparing and contrasting characters from stories and figures from the past, explaining how things have changed over time.
Example task
Compare what children did for fun in your grandparents' time with what you do. Use the photos and stories we've shared.
Model response: 'Children used to play outside more because they didn't have tablets or TVs. They played marbles and skipping. We still play outside sometimes, so that's the same. But they didn't have computers. I think they had more time to make up games because there were fewer toys.'
Delivery rationale
EYFS concept for 4-5 year olds — AI can deliver structured activities via voice/touch but adult facilitates physical tasks and monitors engagement.
Stories as Historical Windows
knowledge AI FacilitatedUW-R-C003
The understanding that books, picture books, stories and oral narratives set in the past convey information about how people lived, thought and behaved in different historical periods — and that fiction, though not factual, can accurately represent the texture of past life. At EYFS this is one of the primary modes of historical learning: children encounter past settings, characters and events through carefully chosen literature before they engage with formal historical sources. Mastery means a child can look at a story setting or character and recognise it as 'from the past', describe specific features that tell them this, and ask questions about the historical context.
Teaching guidance
Choose books that have historically accurate settings and are set in clearly identifiable periods: books set during wartime evacuation, Victorian domestic life, or pre-industrial crafts work well. After reading, ask 'What tells us this story is set in the past?' and draw out specific visual and textual clues. Distinguish between what the story is about (the characters' feelings, the plot) and what it shows about the historical period (the setting, the objects, the way of life). Begin to raise the idea that even fiction is created by an author in a particular time and place.
Common misconceptions
Children may not distinguish between fairy tales (non-historical fantasy) and historical fiction. They may also assume all old-looking books are set in the past. Explicitly discussing the historical setting as separate from the plot helps. Children may conflate a story being old with it being set in the past — a book printed in 1960 about the future is not a historical source.
Difficulty levels
Beginning to engage with stories about the past, showing interest in 'when things were different' and asking questions.
Example task
Read a story set in the past (e.g. a story about a Victorian child). Does the child notice that things were different?
Model response: The child says: 'Why is she wearing that funny dress?' or 'They don't have a car!' — noticing differences from their own experience.
Sometimes using information from stories to talk about what life was like in the past, distinguishing between story and real history.
Example task
After reading a story about life during WWII, ask: 'Is this story true? What does it tell us about what life was really like?'
Model response: 'The story isn't exactly true because it's made up, but it tells us about real things — children really were sent away from their families during the war. That must have been scary.'
Understanding that stories and non-fiction texts can tell us about the past, using them as evidence to explain how people lived in different times.
Example task
Using a story and a non-fiction text about the same period, discuss what we can learn about people's lives.
Model response: 'The story about the Roman soldier shows what it might have felt like to be far from home. The information book tells us real facts about what Romans ate and wore. Together they help me understand that Roman soldiers had a hard life but were brave. The story helps me imagine it and the facts help me know it was real.'
Delivery rationale
EYFS concept for 4-5 year olds — AI can deliver structured activities via voice/touch but adult facilitates physical tasks and monitors engagement.