Whitehall council is consulting the children on their satisfaction with nursery life as part of a review of childcare provision. Three-year-olds have been told to “draw how they feel when they are in nursery” before their doodles are sent to experts for analysis, Daily Mail reported on Monday.

A parent, however, termed it as “nonsense” and a waste of taxpayers’ money. Gavin Ames, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, whose three-year-old son Freddie was consulted on his thoughts, called it “comedy gold”.

He said: “To ask three-year-olds to draw how they feel while in a particular place does seem to be a rather abstract concept for someone who can struggle with counting to 10.

“His artistic style may kindly be described as ‘scribbling’. I imagined my son making some incisive points as part of a focus group helping the nursery to improve its provision of sandpit toys and suggesting safer practices for all glue-related activities.” He suggested that it should be scrapped. “All I could see was the taxpayers’ meter running while all this nonsense went on,” Ames said.