BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — The Dandelion Play Cafe offers a play space and community hub where local families can fellowship and grow. Guardians can enjoy coffee and pastries while children’s imaginations run wild.
“A play cafe is an indoor imaginative playground,” Dandelion Play Cafe Owner Nicole Konstant said. “We do have a playground structure, but we also have little houses that really encourage imaginative play. So [we want to] take the screen out and really encourage little ones to get their minds going and playing. It’s such a fundamental staple to have imaginative play, and I feel like we are so lacking that in today’s world. For the cafe part — we have coffee, and we really wanted to bring other local businesses in, so all of our pastries are from local bakeries.”
Konstant said after navigating infertility, she and her husband found others who understood their pain — an experience that would eventually inspire her to open a space for others to find the same community.
“We started getting involved with Cornerstone Church,” she said. “My husband had played in their worship band, and we found a small group there, and it was crazy, because all of the women dealt with infertility issues, so they kind of pointed us where to go — and we found community. It was like such a stark difference between not having them and having them; it was like, ‘Wow, I wish everybody could have this. This is what we need — to do life together and have each other to lean on.’”
Konstant said that after having her first child, she realized her need for community with other families navigating the same stage of life even more.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re drowning. We need people now in this stage of life, too,’” she said. “And then trying to find stuff to do around town was kind of difficult. So, we wanted [to create] something — because those first few years are so precious, and there are so many emotions that you go through, that we were like, ‘We really just want to have community for families.’ So that was really the heart [of this business] — community. We had miscarriages, and it was such a long, drawn-out process to get both of my kids that we just wanted to be a place here for people [to gather together].”
While thinking about ways to create a community space in Auburn, Konstant said one of her friends told her about a play cafe they had encountered in another state, and while Konstant said she thought the idea was great — the idea of opening a business was frightening.
“We researched for three years, and honestly, I was like, somebody will open one — but nobody did,” she said. “So then we were like, ‘Okay.’ And I, very prayerfully, was like, ‘We’ll keep going, as long as the doors are opened, when a door is shut, we will stop.’ But [the doors] kept opening and opening.”
After officially opening the doors of the Dandelion Play Cafe on Oct. 15, 2025, Konstant said she has enjoyed watching families have fun and grow friendships.
“It’s been a journey, [with] ups and downs, for sure — but my favorite thing is seeing families connect, children playing together and hearing them schedule play dates to come back — that’s been so fun,” she said. “I enjoy seeing community forming — we have multiple mom groups that meet here, and small groups from all different churches in the area — so seeing the community grow has been fun.”
Konstant said families can enjoy the Dandelion Play Cafe through day passes, monthly memberships or year-long memberships. Prices are organized by the number of children, with certain discounts for multiple children and 10% off birthday packages for members. Konstant said she also plans to hold fun events for locals to gather and enjoy, like snow cone days, princess tea parties, a mommy and me flower bar and more.
“Opening a new business is so hard and scary — especially getting on your feet for the first month,” Konstant said. “But it’s been super cool to see — I feel like God’s hands are all over this place, and I feel like we have definitely been provided for and taken care of — I could not do that without God.”
For more information, visit www.dandelionplaycafe.com/memberships-pricing or visit Dandelion Play Cafe on Facebook. It is located at 1667 Shug Jordan Parkway, Ste. 400, in Auburn.
