As part of a wide-ranging review which will focus on making a 'smoother transition' for children moving from the Early Years Foundation Stage to the first year of primary school.
The Government review will also consider whether summer-born children should start school later.
Children's secretary Ed Balls set out the plans in a letter to Sir Jim Rose, who is leading the review, last week.
Mr Balls wrote, 'The primary curriculum must ensure that all pupils can build on their prior learning in the EYFS to develop the essential reading, writing, numeracy and personal skills they need in order to learn and develop ... You might also want to consider whether some aspects of the EYFS should be extended into the primary curriculum. This might include, for example, placing emphasis on the full range of areas of learning and development contained in the EYFS, including social and emotional areas of development, and widening the opportunities for child-initiated and play-based activity.'
Early years expert Wendy Scott said she hoped that the evidence of the independent Primary Review at Cambridge University would be taken into account.
She added, 'It is worrying that the minister suggests that the performance of the summer-born cohort is affected by their age, when it is actually the system of measuring performance that produces apparently lower results for the youngest pupils in each year group.'
She added, 'There is no problem for four- or five-year-olds entering a school that understands, appreciates and addresses the nature of effective early learning, where staff know how to encourage self-esteem, motivation and the disposition to learn.'
Professor emeritus and early years consultant Janet Moyles welcomed the idea that the EYFS should feed into KS1, where children often experienced 'a far too formal curriculum'.
She said, 'An experiential play-based, rather than subject-based curriculum, must be achieved for KS1 children to foster thinking skills and abilities.'
Further information
www.parentingacademy.org.