Nurseries and childminders will be required to monitor the babbling of babies to check their development under a new curriculum for the underfives.

The 54-page legal framework and 114-page curriculum set out 69 “early learning goals” that every child should reach by the end of their reception year at primary school. The goals range from being able to write simple words to knowing the difference between right and wrong and “understanding people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs”.

Toddlers should be able to “rub a rusk around their feeding tray” to show that they are interested in making marks, and “enjoy babbling”.

The Conservatives seized on the curriculum as evidence of more unnecessary government interference, saying that it was ridiculous to try to set national standards for toddlers.

“It is inappropriate to have such detailed inspection of children this young,” said Anne McIntosh, Conservative spokes-woman for children. “These new targets mark an unprecedented supervision of children from birth to primary school, and I do not think that they are necessary or will work. Every child is different, and develops at different stages.”

Parents’ groups predicted that the quality of care would suffer as nursery teachers struggled to get children to meet targets. “I think it’s really sad that we have reached the point now where instead of reducing children’s stress we have increased it,” said Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations.

“It worries me that we are expecting children to reach these targets when they have not even had their first birthday.”

Nursery schools said that they were concerned that the curriculum would lead to a “tick-box” culture where schools were judged on the scores of the young children in their care.

All nurseries and childminders will by law have to follow the EYFS from September 2008 and Ofsted will measure their performance against it.

A Department for Education official said that it was consulting on whether nurseries could opt out of the curriculum, but warned that if they did it would probably mean parents losing their entitlement to 13 hours a week of free care.

Staff are informed that from birth to 11 months babies “communicate in a variety of ways including crying, gurgling, babbling and squealing”. They are advised to record how babies “begin to explore their own movements”, mimic adults’ facial expressions and “gaze” at things that interest them.

The statutory framework also makes clear that ongoing assessment was integral to helping children to learn, a requirement that is bound to lead to more paperwork.

“Providers must ensure that practitioners are observing children and responding appropriately to help them to make progress from birth towards the early learning goals,” it said.

Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, defended the curriculum, saying that it would reassure parents that all nurseries and childminders were following a high-quality education programme.

“The first five years are a crucial time for a child’s development,” she said. “We know that good early years provision leads to better outcomes in a young person’s future education and life chances.”

“We want to make sure that whatever setting parents choose, they can be confident their child will get the best possible start in their learning and development. The EYFS is about ensuring quality and consistency across all settings,” she said.

“The children’s experience will be free, rich and based on play, it will be rich,” the minister said. “But the professionals behind that are required to have a thinking approach to the care of other people’s children.”

0-5 curriculum

Birth to 11 months

Communicate in variety of ways, including by crying, gurgling, babbling and squealing

8-20 months

Begin to make marks — for example, with a rusk on a feeding tray

22-36 months

Have some understanding of the numbers one and two and use number language such as “more” and “a lot”

30-50 months

Draw lines and circles; use one-handed tools and equipment

40-60 months

Write their own names and begin to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation

Source: Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage

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