THE ancient festival of Diwali has inspired children’s imagination.

Pupils at Warrington Road Nursery School have painted a lambanana in vibrant colours.

An Indian lady, dressed in traditional costume, gave them a talk about the autumn celebration.

Teachers loaned a lambanana from Halton Toy Library for a special art project.

Head teacher Amanda Brown said: “We are constantly looking for new ways to encourage children in mark making.

“The children were able to decorate the lambanana in any way they liked using a variety of media.

“It will be with us for a while so the children can enjoy seeing their work.

“We plan to move it around the outdoor area so that the children can use it to support their imaginative play.”

The lambanana was born in 2008 when a sculpture of a lamb fused with a banana was designed to celebrate Liverpool’s capital of culture year.

Two superlambananas decorated by Widnes artist Jo Kelly and Widnes schoolgirl Alex Austin are on display at Runcorn railway station.

Their award-winning designs beat 350 entries in a Capital of Culture competition to depict Halton on miniature replicas of Liverpool’s famous sculpture.

Jo’s is called Superlambridge and Alex’s is known as Smileylambanana.