ABOUT US

Play Hollow, established in 2021, is a nature-inspired children’s shop, which offers toys, books, gear, and classes. Many of the brands picked to be here have values that we share at Play Hollow including: environmentally-friendly practices and sourcing, elevating voices and opportunities for people of various backgrounds, and products that allow and teach our children to love and respect nature and our Earth.

We curate the items in the store with 3 things in mind:

Imagination

We value the importance of allowing children the time and tools for self-directed and open-ended play. There is magic in watching a child engaged and their creativity coming to life.

Communication

Communication acts are what give us power to express, to connect, to reflect, and to inspire. Our curated collections and class offerings will focus on enriching children’s language and vocabularies as well as providing opportunities for expression and advocacy.

Cooperation

It takes a village to raise our children to become who they were meant to be. Play Hollow hopes to become a haven for our littles, their families, and the community to explore how to connect and take care of each other, our community, and the environment.

ABOUT THE OWNER

Natalia is a Puerto Rican bilingual (English-Spanish) speech and language pathologist with 13 years experience working with children, their families, and their community. Natalia completed her BS with two majors in Linguistics and Psychology at Boston College and then completed her MS in Speech-Language Pathology with a bilingual/bicultural extension certificate at Teachers College, Columbia University. Natalia has a strong passion for helping children and their families communicate effectively and create an environment where all involved can feel heard and have a sense of purpose and belonging. Natalia’s offerings have not only included traditional therapy for monolingual and bilingual families, but have expanded to other roles such as teaching homeschool courses, developing programs for social skills and work/life skills, and classes for younger children and toddlers encouraging language building, language use, and cooperative play.

ABOUT IULIA

Iulia is a bilingual (Russian – English) language teacher born in Transnistria. After completing her bachelor’s degree in Theory and Methodology in Foreign Languages and Cultures, she came to visit the USA to continue working on her mastery of English. After falling in love with the country, she decided to move here. Iulia expanded her training, becoming a professional ballroom dancer and working for over 10 years with the Fred Astaire Company in New York. Following the birth of her two children, Iulia and her family established more permanent roots in the Capital Region. Iulia fell in love with the mission of Play Hollow and the families that visited. From frequent customer to now store manager, Iulia adores working with little children, enjoys sharing her knowledge about child rearing/languages with parents, and loves the new challenges and adventures that Natalia and Play Hollow bring.