Inspiring Scotland invites Scottish charities to apply to a new Play Ranger Fund

Scottish charities working on play provision for vulnerable children and disadvantaged groups are being invited to apply to Inspiring Scotland's new Go2Play Play Ranger Fund.

The new fund aims to promote the Scottish Play Strategy by rolling out the play ranger model nationally, upscaling activity and knowledge across Scotland. Successful Charities will receive a package of supporting including: funding, training; individual tailored support and opportunity to share learning and best practice with a collaborative portfolio.

Inspiring Scotland has worked in partnership with the Scottish Government to grow play opportunities for children across Scotland for the past five years. It is the learning from this work which has led to the development of this play ranger focused fund.

Play rangers provide opportunities to access free play provision within a community – on street corners, in local parks or woodland. They encourage children to attend the free open access sessions and provide a comfort to parents/carers who may not be able to normally allow or enable their children to play outside. Although play rangers are qualified play workers, the play at these sessions is facilitated and encouraged by the play rangers but not led by them.

A Play Ranger Toolkit was developed by charities supported through Go2Play, and applicants are encouraged to make use of this new resource. Applications of up to £30,000 will be considered although the average award is likelyt to be less than this.