Toddlers drawing chalk rainbows and stick figures on a footpath outside an outer suburban cafe are creating a health hazard and breaking graffiti laws, a Melbourne council says.

Whitehorse Council has told White’s Cafe owner Sally White to stop giving children chalk to draw on the two metre wide footpath outside her cafe.

Ms White said a council officer told her there had been a resident complaint.

Asked to explain further, the council officer sent an email saying the children were breaching the graffiti act and Ms White needed to clean the drawings off the footpath.

‘‘We looked up the graffiti act ... and graffiti is defined as ‘anything that can’t be removed with a dry cloth’,’’ Ms White said.