MOUNT CHESTNUT — It isn't every day that Butler County preschool children visit a planetarium.

In fact, it may be rare for kindergarten children or those in Head Start, the free preschool run by the Butler County Children's Center for low-income families.

However, on April 11 and 13, the children were treated to a big display of some of their favorite Sesame Street characters inside a mobile, blow-up planetarium that fit inside the children's center gym on Rieger Road.

“We know we can't be a strong bank unless we're in strong communities,” said Sally McCrady, “Grow Up Great” program manager.

“Grow Up Great” is the school readiness program developed by the PNC Foundation and funded with $350 million from the PNC Financial Services Group through 2024. The mobile planetarium is part of that effort.

In partnership with the Sesame Workshop and other national and international partners, PNC funded two mobile planetariums to take to preschool children in its service areas. So far, 53,000 children in 15 states and the District of Columbia have seen the show, and it's still on the road, manned by PNC employees.

On April 13, inside the mobile planetarium, the animated, 27-minute HD video called “Growing Up Together Under One Big Sky,” was projected onto a domed ceiling and surrounded the children with sights, sounds and movement. About 30 preschool children and several adults fit into the space to watch.

Hosted by Big Bird, the children laughed, shouted, pointed and sang as they were exposed to some of the fundamentals of astronomy. Some seemingly heard the word “planetarium” for the first time. They watched the sun set and traced shapes from stars in the sky. They located the Big Dipper and the North Star, which Big Bird renamed the Friendship Star.

And they learned the Chinese word for “hello,” to greet a Chinese muppet named Hu Hu Zhu, a blue pig.

The cross-cultural exchange that is part of the planetarium show was already developed when PNC joined the effort, McCrady said. One of the video's themes is that wherever we are on the planet, we all look at the same sky, just like Big Bird, Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu.

What did the children think?

“I liked the constellations best,” said Liam Rodgers, 5, of Butler.

“I liked it when Hu Hu Zhu and Elmo went to the moon and they tried to fly a kite but couldn't because there was no wind,” said Abby Cuffman, 5, of Butler.

“I liked all of it, seeing the Big Dipper in the sky,” said Kendra McCardle of Butler.

PNC was one of the first corporations to recognize the importance of early childhood education.

“When we announced the campaign in 2003, we had to explain why it's important. Now, the conversation is more about funding and how to reach low- and moderate-income children,” McCrady said.

She works with many Head Start programs as well as other early childhood education providers. In 2011, PNC won the Corporate Champion Award of the National Head Start Association.

Indeed, although the $350 million budget would make a public relations executive salivate, the PNC Foundation is using it to fund multiple, simultaneous efforts to benefit their target audience: children from birth through 5 years old.

Parents may be most familiar with the bilingual education kits, English and Spanish, distributed free at PNC bank branches, and the kits can be downloaded from the online site, pncgrowupgreat.com.

Developed with the Sesame Workshop, they are designed to fit into “everyday moments to learn,” said McCrady.

“If parents have a moment with their child in a restaurant or on a bus, they can turn it into a learning opportunity,” McCrady said.

Titles so far have included “Happy, Healthy, Ready for School,” “Math is Everywhere” and “For Me, for You, for Later: First Steps to Spending, Sharing and Saving,” a new kit that offers basic financial concepts.

Here are the other “Grow Up Great” initiatives:

n More than $40 million in grants have been distributed for programs at early childhood education centers. Centers can apply on the PNC Foundation website.

n PNC gives its employees 40 hours of paid time off annually to volunteer at early childhood education centers, and gives each center a grant of $1,000 to $3,000.

n James E. Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer of the PNC Financial Services Group, co-chairs the state's Early Learning Investment Commission along with Gov. Tom Corbett. The commission advocates for investment in early childhood education.

For PNC and other businesses involved in the state's Early Learning Investment Commission, early childhood education is critical to young children's healthy development.

PNC wants to help “underserved” children get the skills they need to succeed in school, McCrady said.

“For us, we talk a lot about how early childhood education is a workforce development tool,” she said. “It's a smart way to support the communities where we are.”