Children play pretend at Pretend City in Irvine while parents learn

A young shopper at Pretend City Children’s Museum in Irvine tossed toy groceries into the toy shopping cart and pushed it toward the pretend supermarket check out. Another child typed away on a toy computer.

While the children played pretend, their parents learned thanks to a $75,000 grant from the PNC Foundation to Pretend City that was used to host monthly early childhood development classes at the museum.

“We are immensely grateful to the PNC Foundation for this generous contribution, which has made a tremendous impact on the lives of many families,” said Carly Snyder, education manager of child development and outreach at Pretend City. “Through this collaboration, we have been able to provide essential resources and create a supportive community for parents and their children.”

Pretend City is a Children’s Museum designed for children to learn about the inner workings of a city in a sensory environment. Interactive exhibits include a beach and marina, construction site, cafe, farm, dentist and doctors’ offices, a gas station, library, grocery store, a home, a UPS store and emergency services. The PNC Foundation is an entity from PNC Bank that supports local nonprofit organizations, and its grant made it possible for Pretend City to host two-hour monthly classes for six months in partnership with local nonprofits like MOMS OC, Orangewood Foundation and Inland Empire Families.

Besides the monthly classes, participating families also received free meals during the classes, assistance with transportation to the program in the form of gas cards or complimentary Uber rides and access to Pretend City Children’s Museum.

On July 18, 20 families from MOMS OC attended the final Parent Education workshop, which focused on early childhood education.

Families from MOMS OC participate in PNC Parent Education Workshops at Pretend City Children’s Museum in Irvine.

(Patrice Smith)

“Children could come to Pretend City while parents were getting educated and do a lot of pretend play,” said Gabriela Velasco, infant development specialist at MOMS OC.

MOMS OC programs aim to combat challenges created by poverty, lack of health insurance and barriers to care for local mothers, by offering assistance during pregnancy, as well as following birth. Velasco taught “Mommy and Me” classes at Pretend City in both English and Spanish.

“Our vision was for our families to get early intervention and have more resources,” said Velasco.

Participating families felt the impact of the early childhood development education.

“As a first-time parent, this program has helped me understand the milestones my son should be achieving,” said one parent from MOMS OC. “We are so grateful for the opportunity to participate, receive educational opportunities and be part of the museum.”

The grant to Pretend City is part of PNC’s Grow Great initiative, which focuses on preparing children from ages birth to 5 years old. Since launching in 2004, Grow Great has supported nearly 8 million children with programs like the ones at Pretend City.

“Supporting Pretend City Children’s Museum and its programs for Orange County and Inland Empire families is exactly how PNC operates in the communities we serve,” said Denise Scott, PNC client and community relations director for Orange County-Inland Empire in a statement. “For nearly two decades, we have championed high-quality, early childhood education through our PNC Grow Up Great initiative, and we’re pleased to work with a mission-aligned organization like Pretend City.”

The funding helped Pretend City and the nonprofit partners reach a total of 70 families.