'Adult preschool' charges hipsters to take naps, play with glitter glue
Students at the world's first 'adult preschool' pay up to $999 for a month-long course that includes nap time
Do you ever feel like you didn’t make the most of your time as a 4-year-old? Like you failed to appreciate how awesome life was when “gift shopping” meant bringing home a macaroni necklace? Like you’d give anything to see nap time on your schedule again?
Your inner child is in luck — but only if your outer adult can afford to enrol in “adult preschool,” which is an actual thing now. No jokes.
Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Preschool Mastermind is a one-month long program that purports to help grown-ups over the age of 18 “re-learn the basics and experience the magic of life as it was originally intended.”
For between $333 and $999, participants can expect to spend time in class playing games, doing arts and crafts, participating in show-and-tell sessions, going on field trips and completing playsheets, among other activities.
They’ll also have nap time.
According to the course’s website, Preschool Mastermind has a limit of 10 students per class — all of whom must apply for the privilege of enrolling.
“Please note, [applications] must be PRINTED and filled out BY HAND,” reads the application instructions. “Think markers, crayons, paint… perhaps this means a trip to the art store — ohh fun! Please read carefully (because this time around, you can read). Most importantly, HAVE FUN with it!”
Course founder Michelle Joni Lapidos, 30, indicates on her website that both men and women (or “grownup boys and girls,” as she puts it) are welcome in the program, and that she is looking for “bright-minded” students who are “intent on making play more part of their life.”
“Miss Joni,” who teaches the course out of her Brooklyn home / office space with the aid of an assistant, has “nearly half a degree in Early Childhood Education” according to her bio.
“I wanted to be a preschool teacher for many years, so that is what I originally went to college for!” she wrote. “But then I realized that career path meant being chained to a classroom and told that my butt can’t show… AT ALL. So I switched to Fashion Merchandising.”
The course’s assistant, Candice Kilpatrick (Miss CanCan to students) is described as a former preschool teacher with a master’s degree in teaching.
ABC News reports that the program’s first round of students will finalize the inaugural course on Tuesday by bringing two adults of their choice to class with them.
The activity is being called “parents day,” and one grown-up kid is reportedly bringing her actual mom and dad.
Preschool Mastermind is preparing to start a new term this fall, according to TIME. Would you enrol if you had the chance?