The EYFS materials have been written in response to requests from EYFS practitioners working in primary schools. They attempt to:

• Provide a link (particularly for practitioners and teachers working with Reception aged children and in Year 1) to the ICT materials that schools are developing in KS1 and 2
• Provide guidance on the standards of ICT capability that are appropriate for children in the EYFS and suggestions as a progression in these standards
• Provide practical examples of how the ICT skills, knowledge and understanding can be integrated into planning across the EYFS. This includes numerous links to learning activities that have been planned by others.

Learning about information and communications technology starts from birth because it’s the way the world works. Technology is an integral part of all young children’s environment and world. They are surrounded by ICT just as they are surrounded by language, print and numbers. In the home, technology includes remote controls for television, DVDs and sound systems, toys that have buttons and buzzers, mobile phones, washing machines, microwave ovens and other machines that require programming, and of course, computers. Outside the home, children are also immersed in the technological world: they see automatic doors, cash machines, bar code scanners, digital tills and weighing machines, and security cameras. Technology is something children are going to grow up with, learn about and master, and use as a tool to increase their understanding in all areas of learning.