Patti's Play Center

Mercer Island, Washington

Phone: 206-232-4453    

4400 86th Avenue Southeast, Mercer Island, Washington 98040
Located at Emmanuel Episcopal Church

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News You Can Use 8.20.2023

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Welcome New & Returning Patti’s families!

Teacher Michelle, Teacher Cathy and I are thrilled to welcome you and your child to a new year at Patti’s Play Center.  We can’t wait to meet new members of our classroom community and experience school for the first time through their eyes, we are also excited to welcome several returning Patti’s kiddos and see how much they’ve grown over the summer! 

The first day of school will be Tuesday September 5th, but the first event of the school year is for parents only!  We hope you will join us for our first Parent Social and Orientation meeting.  This is a chance for you to see the classroom and meet the teachers in a less busy environment.  We will discuss our schedule and curriculum and answer any questions.  Our new Parent Board President, Magdalena Garcia, will also be there to meet everyone and talk about opportunities to become involved and help Patti’s Play Center!  Appetizers and beverages will be provided.

We look forward to seeing all our families and meeting the kiddos at our Open House on Thursday, August 31st from 10am-12pm. We will be gathering outside on the playground and taking small groups to visit the classroom.

Please park in the south parking lot on 86th Ave.  Patti’s Play Center will be using the south entrance, closest to the playground, for drop-off and pick up this year.

I have attached the calendar for the school year and some important registration forms.  A print-out from your pediatrician’s office may be submitted in place of the immunization form. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Looking forward to seeing you all, 

Jennifer Cathey

Director, Patti’s Play Center

News You Can Use 2.15.2023

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February Reminders

Hello Lovely Patti’s Families,
Our classroom community has spent the beginning of February having fun with dinosaurs and Valentines!  At circle time we have added dinosaur fun by reading the “Do Dinosaurs…” series  and marching to “We are the Dinosaurs” by Laurie Berkner,  and kiddos loved color sorting toy dinos with Teacher Cathy!
Next week, February 20th – 24th, Patti’s Play Center will be closed for mid-winter break.  We hope everyone has a fun  and/or restful week!
We need play dough volunteers!

Homemade play dough is a treasured tradition at Patti’s Play Center. Thank you to all the families who signed up at the beginning of the school year and have brought play dough – we especially appreciate the families who signed up for more than one week!  

Unfortunately we only have one week of the school year covered after mid-winter break. If you joined our classroom community after September, or did not already sign up for a week please choose one or two now.  If you already made play dough and are willing to contribute again we will be very grateful. Your kiddos love the play dough table!

Here is the link to sign-up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4DA5A829A13-pattis

Special Request: If any familes use baby food in jars we would love to have the jars and lids to use with art  in the classroom!  Please consider saving them for Patti’s!

Thank you from your teachers – Michelle, Cathy, Monique and Jennifer

News You Can Use 2.07.2023

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Patti’s Open House and other February Happenings

Hello Lovely Patti’s Families,


The past few weeks have been eventful at Patti’s as we have added several new friends to our classroom community!  Your kiddos have been doing a great job of welcoming their new classmates and it has been wonderful to see how much empathy they are able to have for new friends experiencing separation anxiety.   It is also great to see many children beginning to bond and call out their friends’ names on the playground or look for them when they arrive in the morning.


This Saturday, February 11, Patti’s Play Center will be holding an Open House for current and prospective families from 10am – 12pm. The playground and the classroom will be open and this is a great opportunity to meet other Patti’s families and have your child show you around their classroom!  We will also have the church nursery room available for if we need a little more space for families to gather.  Please let me know if you have any questions, I hope to see you on Saturday,  I will also have a sign up list for families who would like to share their contact info with Patti’s classroom community to arrange playdates or reach out to other families.
Patti’s will be closed from February 20-24 for Mid-Winter Break. School will reopen on February 27. I will be out of the country from February 19-26 and will not have access to email.  If you have questions about registration for 2023/2024 please reach out to Jamie Hyunh at pattisregistrar@gmail.com.  I will respond to any email enquiries that come in during Mid-Winter Break during the week of February 27-March3. Thank you for your understanding.


I am so grateful for our wonderful and supportive Patti’s Play Center community and especially our wonderful teachers – Michelle, Cathy and Monique who work every day to make sure your children feel safe and valued at Patti’s and to ensure their early learning experience is a wonderful one!


Thank you,
Jennifer Cathey-Roberts Director, Patti’s Play Center

News You Can Use 1.07.2023

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Happy New Year to all our Patti’s Families!


I hope that you have all had a wonderful time enjoying family holidays and traditions over winter break! We were excited to welcome our classroom community back to Patti’s Play Center today. It was great to see all the smiling faces coming to the door and how happy everyone was to be back in the classroom and see their friends. 
Thank you to our wonderful Patti’s families for the generous, and delicious, holiday teacher gifts!  Michelle, Cathy Monique and I are very touched and appreciative of your thoughtfulness.
News for the New Year: Patti’s Play Center has space available in our classroom community!  I have some new family tours scheduled in the next few weeks, but before opening enrollment we would like to offer additional days to our current families.  If you are interested in adding days to your child’s schedule please email me or ask at drop off. We will be offering tours on Wednesdays and Thursdays during January so please pass the word to any neighbors or friends who might be a good fit for our classroom community.
Patti’s Play Center needs to update our Emergency Preparedness Supplies.  We have decided to change our supply plan to one which is transportable and more easily updated.  In addition to our classroom emergency kit we are asking each child to bring in an individual emergency supply bag. Please see the details below.

Emergency Supply Kit:

To provide your children with optimal care in the unlikely event of an emergency, we ask each family to provide an emergency bag for their student.  Please use a gallon-size or larger size Ziploc bag with your child’s name clearly labeled to hold all supplies. If your child requires special medical supplies, please let us know.  These bags will be kept in an emergency supply bin and returned at the end of the school year.

Each bag should contain:

  • Index Card with emergency contact information
  • A family photo
  • A change of clothes for your child (including socks and underwear) 
  • 2 Pull-Ups/Diapers
  • Bottle/box/pouch of water
  • 3 Non-perishable food items (expiry date should be no earlier than 6/23), such as:
    • Fruit cup or applesauce 
    • Granola/cereal bars 
    • Crackers
    • Snack packs
    • No loose nuts or trail mix

We appreciate your help in keeping our classroom community safe.
Thank you,

Jennifer Cathey-RobertsDirector,

Patti’s Play Center

News You Can Use 11.28.2022 Winter is Coming, Snow Edition

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Hello Lovely Patti’s Families,


We hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving holiday weekend,  With snow in the forecast it seems that Winter will be coming soon! Winter weather and snow may bring delays or closures for Patti’s. If there is snow we will monitor the MISD advisories. 
As a general rule, if MISD opens with a one hour delay then Patti’s will be open as usual.  If MISD opens with a two hour delay Patti’s will open with a one-hour delay at 10 a.m.  If MISD is closed we will make our own evaluation based on island conditions and we will send out an email by 8:00 a.m. regarding any delays or closures. At times when MISD closes or delays because the snow in outlying areas makes commuting difficult, but streets around Patti’s are clear, we will make every effort to be open.  If we decide not to open the Play Center, you will not be charged. If we open one hour late you will only be billed from the time we open. In the event of snow closures Patti’s reserves the right to add up to 3 additional weather make-up days at the end of the school year.
In anticipation of the cold weather please make sure your child comes with a warm coat, has a hat and gloves/mittens and that everything is labeled with their name.  Any hats and gloves need to be labeled as well, we really appreciate your efforts in helping us match cold weather gear to the right kids! 

 If MISD has announced a delayed start or snow day please check your email in the morning before heading to Patti’s. We will make a determination about whether to delay Patti’s opening time or close and send an email by 8 a.m.  


Cheers, Jennifer

affordable, convenient, part-time childcare

Patti’s Play Center provides a nurturing and well-supervised social environment where children are encouraged to develop new friendships and explore interests at their own pace. Offering part-time childcare programs for 2–4 year olds, Patti’s Play Center fills a unique niche. Patti’s is not a daycare or a preschool, but a structured play center designed to both prepare young children for their first preschool experience, and complement an older child’s preschool schedule.