"It isn't that we just think that teaching the arts would be 'nice,' " said Chris Wink, who along with Phil Stanton and Matt Goldman founded the Blue Man Group and Blue School - and who make occasional cameos as instructors.

"It's for a new generation of kids who aren't taught to the test but taught how to be creative problems solvers," said Nancy Simko, who left a private school in Brooklyn to teach kindergarten at the Blue School.

While Simko and her fellow instructors don't paint themselves blue, they've created a fun environment where, for example, kids are encouraged to say "Good morning" in foreign and fictitious languages.