Children are swiping on books in an attempt to turn pages, teachers have said, as they are confusing them with mobile phones and iPads.

There is a “disturbing” trend of children in reception and at nursery school picking up library books and trying to “swipe left”, delegates at the National Union of Teachers (NUT) annual conference in Brighton were told.

During a debate about libraries, Jennifer Bhambri-Lyte, a delegate from North Somerset, told of "happy childhood memories” of “running into a library, snuggling in a corner with a book, cuddling up to mum, turning the pages, gazing at the pictures".

She told the conference: "Kindles and iPads are wonderful things, but many of my friends talked about the smell of a book, finding tickets and receipts that someone had left as a bookmark, echoes of all the people that had been there before.”

Ms Bhambri-Lyte went on: "I've taught both nursery and reception and I personally still find it disturbing to see a child pick up a book and try to swipe left.” She said that books are a now luxury that many struggling families cannot afford, and that libraries can act as a "pair of armbands".