Play Rangers

Who were Play Rangers?

The Play Rangers are experienced play workers. They worked with children and young people aged from 8 – 16 years old in our parks and open spaces across Leicester. The Play Rangers all hold current CRB checks and are qualified in First Aid. Play Ranger sessions were all free to attend and open access to all!

The sessions

Play Rangers sessions ran from 2009 – 2013 and were enjoyed by 12,845 children and young people across the city. The sessions targeted areas which had limited opportunities for young people to play outside. The Play Ranger session were specifically designed to suit children’s needs & requests. Activities included messy play, den building, orienteering, graffiti, arts & crafts, dancing, trips & much more.

The Play Ranger’s designed extra special outdoor cookery sessions were young people had the opportunity to build their own fire, prepare and cook their own food. These sessions let young people get a feel of what it would be like to survive in the wild!

86%  of young people & children who attended our sessions told us they did not access any other clubs or activities other than the Play Ranger sessions!

Special trips and events organised by the Play Rangers

Since starting in September 2009, our Play Ranger sessions have been child led and specifically designed with young people requests in mind. The Play Rangers organised many special events & trips for the young people.   

Here are a few of the special things we did:

• Orienteering and treasure hunts

• Den building using different materials from bamboo canes and fabric to boxes and branches
• Jewellery making with different materials, colours and textures
• Obstacle courses designed by themselves using cargo nets, hoopla and other materials 
• Trips to the Yew Trail
• Narrow Boating with Northeaster Narrow Boats.
• Horse riding.
• Outdoor cooking.
• Dance lessons.

We gave children and parents opportunities to tell us what they thought about our sessions. We used their feedback to help improve the service that we provided.

Here are a few of their thoughts:

• ‘I watch kids come on the park and they don’t know how to play. I watch them play a bit of football then they get bored and mess around, what you do is good and I think kids need to be taught again how to play. There is too much game boys and play stations.’ Parent

•  ‘I love this after school club and wish to continue after term and school holidays!’ Young Person

•  I love Play Rangers. I would rather be here than bored at home I wish I could come every day’ Young Person

• ‘Great Idea to have this service on the park. It encourages children of all ages to get involved and keep active’ Parent

• I come because it’s fun and I like to play games. I’d be sitting at home watching TV if I wasn’t here. Young person

• ‘What you do for the community is really good, you come out at night and give up your time, you are the un-sung angels of the community’ Parent

• ‘This is a super club because there are games to play and make things’ Young person

• ‘I love Play Rangers I would rather be here than be bored at home I wish I could come every day’ Young person

• ‘I like Play Rangers because I never get bored, if I wasn’t here I’d be playing on my Xbox.’ Young person