About
Pato Pato was born out of a simple belief that language connects us to our roots. It ties us to the music, movies, and traditions that shape who we are. As a Latina immigrant raising two boys in the U.S., our founder saw firsthand how quickly Spanish can take a backseat in an English-dominant country like the US.
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But we wanted to foster more than just spoken language. While there are plenty of digital tools that teach basic vocabulary, we wanted something deeper. We needed resources that fostered literacy in Spanish—not just speaking but reading, understanding, and growing in the language. Frustrated with having to scramble through DIY printouts and poorly translated products that didn’t accurately reflect the language, we set out to create something better.
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At Pato Pato, we design toys that immerse children in the Spanish language and help them not just speak, but read and fully engage with it. Our toys tackle the gaps left by existing resources, many of which focus on screen time or require parents to translate English materials. We create high-quality, non-toxic toys made by native speakers, designed to teach sentence structure, phonics, and real language skills.
Our mission is to help families preserve their language and culture through authentic, well-made toys that encourage family time over screen time. We’re here to help you pass down not just a language, but the full depth of culture and literacy to the next generation—one toy at a time.
About Our Founder: Lucía Garrett
Lucia was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before she moved to Mexico City, where she spent most of her childhood. At 16, her family relocated to the U.S., where she continued her education, eventually becoming the first college graduate in her family, graduating from Pepperdine University with a degree in Advertising and Communications. Now living on a regenerative farm near Cincinnati, OH, Lucia spends her days with her husband, the farm animals, and their two rambunctious little boys.
Driven by her passion for language and childhood education, Lucia became actively involved in early childhood learning methodologies and founded Pato Pato. She regularly consults with speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and educators, including her own grade school teachers from Mexico, to ensure that Pato Pato toys are not only fun, but also educationally sound.
In her free time, Lucia loves reading, gardening, and unapologetically belting out Camilo songs. Through Pato Pato, she combines her love of culture, language, and education to create toys that help bilingual families foster language and biliteracy, and strengthen their own cultural connections.