TOTS in Quedgeley had The Very Hungry Caterpillar read to them by Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harmon yesterday.
But the shadow deputy prime minister had a more serious message to deliver when she visited Little Meadow Group nursery.
She has hit out at plans to increase the ratio of youngsters to nursery staff in a government bid to cut the cost of childcare.
She fears it will compromise the quality of childcare in nursery schools.
Nursery schools currently have one member of staff for every four children aged two. New plans would see that increase to six children.
For children aged one and under, the ratio will go up from one-to-three to one-to-four. And for youngsters aged three and above there will be no change.
But Mrs Harman said: "I don't know if any of these government ministers have actually tried looking after six young children but frankly four is a handful and even the most highly trained staff find it quite a struggle so reducing the number of staff does threaten to undermine the quality of care.
"They say it is to cut the cost of childcare but we don't think it will cut the cost of childcare so we're backing the Mumsnet and the Netmums campaign which is to not make this change."
The government believes that having fewer, but better paid, better qualified staff will drive up standards.
But Little Meadow's manager Sharon Phillips said: "We are not confident about the policing of these new government proposals in terms of maintaining quality.
"You have to put in the better staff first. You can't do it like this.
"There are a lot of early years professionals who are concerned about the implications of these changes."
The visit by Mrs Harman was also used to rally Labour troops ahead of Gloucestershire's county council elections this Thursday.
She said: "All our council candidates are very focused on the day to day things that happen, street by street, estate by estate, things like anti-social behaviour and actually speaking up for people at a local level."
