Little Avenue Play Co. will invite children ages six and younger to become firefighters, veterinarians, bakers, builders and more when its imaginative indoor play village opens September 5.

A child-sized town is taking shape in Pinellas Park—one where the grocery store is always hiring, the veterinary clinic welcomes stuffed animals and even the smallest firefighters can answer the call.

Little Avenue Play Co., a new indoor play village designed for children ages six and younger, is scheduled to open September 5 at 7314 U.S. Highway 19 North in the Shoppes at Park Place. The 4,300-square-foot facility will be located next to Pickleball Kingdom in the former Rainbow clothing store.

Rather than filling the space with the climbing towers and sprawling jungle gyms found in many indoor playgrounds, Little Avenue will feature 15 miniature playhouses modeled after places children recognize from everyday life.

Young visitors will be able to shop in a grocery store, care for animals in a veterinary hospital, bake imaginary treats, visit a bank, work at a construction site, respond to emergencies from a fire station and pretend to repair a vehicle at a service station.

For owners Jake and Caylen Babbitt, the concept is about more than keeping children occupied. It is designed to give them a world they can temporarily run.

“We’re bystanders to so much of what happens in our children’s lives,” Jake Babbitt told St. Pete Rising. “This gives the child an opportunity to not be a bystander, but be the main character.”

A Play Space Inspired by Parenthood

The husband-and-wife team met while studying education at Florida State University. Caylen later taught in private middle and high schools, specializing in working with neurodivergent children and students on the autism spectrum. Jake went into the construction industry, working for a South Florida-based company.

After moving to the Tampa Bay area in 2020, the couple built a successful roofing company. Becoming parents, however, inspired an entirely different kind of venture.

As they visited children’s attractions and attended birthday parties with their now-2-year-old daughter, they began imagining the type of play space they wanted for their own family: clean, safe, visually appealing, thoughtfully designed and affordable enough to visit regularly.

“There are a number of young-child play areas, and they all do a great job,” Babbitt said. “But we wanted to create something that felt thoughtfully curated, beautiful, safe and high-end without the high-end price tag.”

That philosophy shaped Little Avenue’s miniature-town format.

At the service station, children will find toy tools and a vehicle they can partially disassemble and put back together. The veterinary hospital will be stocked with stuffed animals waiting for checkups. Other buildings will incorporate puzzles, slides, climbing features and hands-on activities into their designs.

The result is intended to encourage open-ended play rather than lead children through a prescribed experience. One child may spend the morning putting out imaginary fires, while another might run a bakery, build something at the construction site or care for a sick puppy.

Along the way, they will have opportunities to make decisions, solve problems, cooperate with other children and try on roles they ordinarily only observe from the sidelines.

Designed for Parents, Too

Little Avenue is also being designed around the practical realities of taking young children out for the day.

Parent seating will be integrated throughout the play village instead of separated behind barriers or confined to a distant lounge. The arrangement will allow adults to remain close and engaged while giving children room to explore with growing independence.

The facility will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., making it available to families on weekdays and weekends rather than limiting play sessions to a narrow schedule.

“People should be able to access our facility seven days a week during operating hours,” Babbitt said. “That was important to us.”

Birthday packages will include private party rooms with space for approximately 12 children and their accompanying adults. Families will also be able to order food from nearby restaurants, including Domino’s, Chick-fil-A and Jersey Mike’s.

Safety and Cleanliness Families Can See

The Babbitts say transparency—an operating principle they carried over from their roofing business—will be central to Little Avenue.

Employees will be required to pass Level 2 background screenings, the same type of screening required for many teachers and other professionals who work with children.

Team members will also conduct hourly cleaning checks and maintain logs throughout the day, allowing parents to ask when a play area or piece of equipment was last cleaned.

“We built our other business on transparency,” Babbitt said. “If someone wants to know when something was cleaned, we can show them.”

Making Imaginative Play More Accessible

Little Avenue will offer both single-visit admission and monthly memberships.

Drop-in admission will cost $19.99 per visit. Monthly memberships will begin at $29.99 for one child, making the membership only $10 more than a single visit. Founding memberships with discounted introductory pricing are currently available to the first 200 families who enroll before the facility opens.

Affordability, Babbitt said, was not an afterthought. It was one of the principles guiding the project from the beginning.

“All children, regardless of their socioeconomic situation, deserve a high-quality, beautiful, safe and fun place to enjoy year-round,” he said.

The company also plans to become an active community resource for local families. Upcoming programming is expected to include monthly visits from the Pinellas Park Fire Department, offering free car-seat inspections and fire-safety education.

When the doors open September 5, Little Avenue will offer children something increasingly rare: a place where the world has been resized just for them—and where they are trusted to decide what happens next.

At Little Avenue, grown-ups may provide the ride and pay the admission, but once inside, the children are in charge.