All those with shy children who won't talk at nursery...

[bobbybobbobbingalong]

As some of you may know, I do baby music classes. I am doing some postgrad work on older 2-8 children and did my first research class this morning.

The children the staff had identified as shy and not speaking, all sang and joined in. Cue amazed staff.

obviously early days but initial theories are:

I wasn't self conscious about using music so they mirrored me.
Singing is less threatening than speaking.
I kept it simple and didn't frighten them with music that was too complex, too fast, too loud. I mostly used my voice not a CD.
The loud, confident children sat still, meaning the shy ones could have a voice.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

thats interesting bbba. MY dd is quite shy but always seems to join in music/dance things.

They really seemed to like the activities were they pretended to be something else, like a BIGGGGGG elephant or a tiny mouse, and had a great range whereas the confident children were more limited to being dinosaurs and crocodile and other big noisy things like themselves.

Speaking 1-to1 or to a group gets all attention focused on you. That's horrible if you hate being centre of attention.
Singing as part of a group actually helps you fit in and not get special attention; you'd stand out more if you were the person who wasn't singing.
I'd be surprised if you could get any of the shy ones to solo in front of the others!

They all sang their names as a solo, as part of the hello song. Okay it's only one word, but she's never done it before.