Children were left devastated when they arrived at nursery to find a shed containing most of their toys had been burnt to the ground.

More than 30 youngsters who attend St Michael’s Nursery in St Michaels’ Road, Maidstone, lost some of their favourite items in the blaze in the early hours of this morning, including a large wooden castle, a slide, a trampoline, bikes, scooters and dolls, many of which were donated by parents or brought in by staff.

Deputy manager Daniel Gibbons, 33, said: “The children loved playing in the wooden castle and even the little figures that went with it have gone up in smoke.

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"We’ve lost toy rocket ships and astronauts that all the kids enjoyed playing with and they were all asking why they couldn’t ride the bikes. It’s all gone.

“The children are all asking why someone would do that to their toys and what can you say? We don’t want them to know there’s someone out there like that, we want them to feel safe. Some of them were quite upset.

“There were brightly coloured numbers and toys hanging on the shed and a sign for the nursery. Whoever did this must have known what they were setting fire to.”

None of the 32 children, aged two to five, were turned away this morning, but staff took them all into the larger of two church halls as the smaller one, which they usually use as well, was also damaged in the fire.

They organised role play games, made butterflies by drawing around their hands and cutting out the shapes and played with toys that were stored indoors such as Lego and the home corner.

Mr Gibbons has been overwhelmed by offers of toys but won’t have anywhere to store them until the insurance company pays out for a new shed and extra security.

He estimates the outbuilding and toys were worth more than £5,000.

Grandmother Brenda Malyon, whose four-year-old grandaughter goes to the nursery, spent today walking around Maidstone town centre asking shops to donate toys for the children.

The 66-year-old of Tonbridge Road said: “I was totally disgusted by what happened. I went into Poundland and got £15 worth of stuff, balls and bits and pieces, and the Early Learning Centre gave me a pink table for the garden.

"I spoke to a few parents and they all thought it was a terrible thing to happen. It’s such a nice play school and the staff are so caring.”

A concrete outbuilding, believed to be used for storage by a Scout group, was also damaged by the fire, which is being investigated by police.

A Volkswagen Passat was damaged by fire overnight in nearby Hartnup Street and although police are also treating that blaze as suspicious they cannot confirm whether they are linking the two suspected arson attacks.