State College indoor play cafe ready to welcome kids, parents. Here’s a sneak peek
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Little Lions Play Den opens in State College with play spaces, lounge and cafe.
- It features local touches, sensory-friendly options and built-in parental visibility.
- Families can book open play sessions or memberships; weekend parties require reservations.
State College-area parents may no longer need to choose between letting their children play and finding some peace of mind themselves.
That’s the core mission behind Little Lions Play Den, opening this week at 154 Rolling Ridge Drive in State College. The new indoor play space will feature a wide range of activities designed for young children, a cafe and a lounge for parents all under one roof.
Co-owner Julianna Retherford felt inspired to open Little Lions Play Den while raising her two young boys. She says there’s a growing need for family-friendly spaces in State College that offer amenities for children and their parents in one location.
“I know that as a mom, I don’t want to make multiple stops,” Retherford told the Centre Daily Times. “If I can go somewhere, unload my kids one time, get a coffee and let them play, that’s what I want to do.”
Take a look inside
After walking through the front door (or using the miniature, teal-colored children’s-only door left behind by Kid to Kid), parents are free to relax in a large lounge overlooking Little Lions Play Den’s play area. The lounge boasts tables and high-top desks suitable for those working remotely and large couches for parents hoping to rest comfortably. Retherford said she sat in every available seat to make sure parents could view nearly the entire play area from any vantage point.
The cafe, meanwhile, will serve both hot and iced Rothrock Coffee drinks and a selection of pastries from Pleasant Gap’s The Cakeshop by Tati. There’s even a children’s menu offering snacks like applesauce, fruit snacks and Goldfish crackers for as little as $1.
Perhaps the most eye-catching play sets at Little Lions Play Den are found on “Mane Street” — a row of façades featuring a fire station, house, hospital, supermarket and a surprisingly realistic construction zone with a lion-pun name to boot. All of them, transformed from Kid to Kid’s former fitting rooms, are removable and can be switched out if Little Lions Play Den chooses to expand or shift its offerings.
Retherford said the space’s contractor, Veronesi Building & Remodeling, provided detail-oriented collaboration while constructing the play sets, going so far as to install faux brickwork and shingles on rooftops. The pretend construction zone even features foam bricks and cinder blocks to hopefully avoid any pint-sized workplace accidents.
The Mane Street play sets feature several local touches, namely at its fire station. Retherford visited State College’s Alpha Fire Company to pick up some patches to stitch onto children’s costumes and ask for permission to use the station’s likeness on a painted sign. She hopes local kids will feel more engaged while playing with something they might recognize in town.
Little Lions Play Den’s back corner features a large playground complete with monkey bars, climbing areas and a swirling slide. Retherford’s husband and co-owner, Penn State wrestling legend Zain Retherford, built the cedar wood playground himself using custom-ordered parts.
Retherford said she wanted to create a playground that avoids the typical trappings of those that were “designed by people who clearly don’t have kids.” As such, Little Lions Play Den’s playground has clear panels on most of its sides and open access points to help kids avoid injury and stay in their parents’ sight. One side of the playground is intended for younger children, while the other features more intense challenges and interactive elements.
“All different kids like all different things,” Retherford said. “Some kids like to run and jump and climb, but others might want to be more imaginative and dress up. No matter what, you’ve got that here.”
Elsewhere, Little Lions Play Den offers tables topped with Lego building sets, magnet toys and trains, plus sensory-friendly options (including noise-canceling headphones) for kids who may feel overstimulated. Retherford says she plans to use the space’s back room as a dedicated sensory-friendly area when it’s not in use for birthday parties.
Though most play areas are designed for children up to 7 years old, Little Lions Play Den also boasts a play pen for those under 24 months old. It sits directly next to the parents’ lounge and allows younger children to play and crawl without bumping into older playmates.
Community helped in launching new venture
Retherford, an athletic trainer by trade, worked to open Little Lions Play Den by drawing on her own experiences as a mother and a former nanny. She said planning for the space was made easier by conducting plenty of research and consulting with friends and partners in the area, including Centre County’s own Pyramid Play. Parents she met through Penn State’s wrestling program and Nittany Lion Wrestling Club offered invaluable help, she said, and even brought their young children in to test out play areas and see which options performed the best.
Moving forward, Retherford says Little Lions Play Den hopes to host “Mommy & Me” classes and other events, potentially including pop-ups with State College’s Pure Barre studio and other groups and businesses. She hopes her new venture will be as much of a space for kids as it is for parents.
“It’s really hard to be a mom because we’re supposed to be, as people, social beings, and being a mom is really lonely,” Retherford said. “I wanted this to be a spot where we don’t need to be so lonely. We can do this together. We can be moms together, and our kids can play together.”
Getting ready to open
Little Lions Play Den will launch with soft openings on Thursday and Friday before officially opening its doors on Saturday. Retherford said she hopes to attract some families visiting State College for Penn State football’s highly anticipated White Out game against Oregon.
Once open, Little Lions Play Den will cycle through two-hour play sessions with roughly 25 kids up to four times per day. Limited capacity will give kids ample opportunities to play with toys and explore, while 15-minute breaks between sessions will afford staff enough time to take a breather, reset play areas and sanitize toys and equipment as needed
Registration is already open for families interested in visiting Little Lions Play Den. To visit, families must sign a waiver and purchase either a one-time open play pass starting at $15 or a monthly membership. Adults and children under 6 months old can play or supervise at no cost.
Memberships start at $60 per child and provide select perks, including unlimited open play visits and access to discounted “bring-a-friend” passes. Discounts are available for families who purchase a membership for more than one child.
Online registrations is encouraged but not required. Those who sign up online can schedule a visit for any available day or time. And while play passes are not refundable, they can be rescheduled or transferred to a later date.
Little Lions Play Den is also available for birthday parties on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Work to open Little Lions Play Den ramped up quickly over the spring and summer. Though Retherford and her team hit a few roadblocks along the way, she says conversations with community members — especially those who were excited to visit — kept her positive and focused on providing a much-needed resource for families in the area.
“I’m excited to see the deep sigh of relief on a mom’s face,” Retherford said. “I really want her, or a dad or anybody, to come here and be able to [exhale] and go, ‘I can relax.’ Whether it’s just a minute alone, putting headphones in, listening to a podcast, reading a book ... I’m most excited for everybody to be able to find peace here.”
Little Lions Play Den will operate with regular hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and stay open until 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. It will open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and remain closed to the public on Sundays, which are reserved for private parties.
%202.JPG)