KIND-HEARTED toddlers cooked up treats to support a national charity.

Children and staff at Just Learning Nursery, Darlington, baked cookies to raise money for children's charity Little Hearts Matter. About 50 children, from 18 months to four years, took part in the session raising more than £35.

Nursery manager Suzanne Cartwright-Powton said: "The Cookie Bake Day is a fun way of raising awareness of this charity. The children within the nursery are able to help raise money while learning."

Little Hearts Matter supports families where a single ventricle heart condition has been diagnosed.

Every year, there are about 600 pregnancies where the foetus develops a heart where one of the pumps does not work. The life expectancy of children with the condition was just a few hours until recently.

But surgery now enables children to live full lives with restrictions on their physical activity. Life expectancy is still shorter and some children need a heart transplant in their teens.