Anyone else got a 'Compulsively Creative' child?!

[ChiefFairyCakeMaker]

DD (5.5) is compulsively creative. She is driven to make things from first thing in the morning until last thing at night. She starts off cutting and sticking before breakfast, takes a break to go to school, and then needs a lot of persuading to stop to go to bed at night. She's been like this since she was about 3, although she needed more help then - she once had me making a bikini for Pingu at 6.30am.

Not being in the least bit creative myself I find it hard to understand her creative urges. I think she takes after DH who is very creative, and is also always making things. I'm pleased she's so creative but it's the compulsive bit that concerns me slightly - the house is bursting at the seams with her creations.

Has anyone else had any experience of this? And if so where will it end.

Never ends my DS is 10 and I came back today to find he has decorated the living room with lots of little funny halloween things. Don't ever let them watch smart or anything like that .

My table top never sees the light of day it is permanantly covered in projects. I found a fimble soft toy in a cardboard crown, necklace and dress.

I found it easier to get one of those Ikea 9 drawer wooden unit. Drawer box for pens, pencils,scissors etc. They can lift out the box they need then easy to put away.

My dd who is 5.4 is like this too. She never stops drawing and sticking and making. She's very self sufficient about it, but we live in a small house and doesn't want me to ever throw any of it away and i'm having to find new and interesting ways of storing / binning without her being upset. At the moment it's endless stories and books and pictures - dozens every day.

She loves Smart and Art Attack! I've had to stop getting her the Art Attack comic because she'd get distraught if we didn't have all the stuff to make the things in it, althought the halloween craft set was good.

I like the storage unit idea - otherwise it can get so messy.

I wonder what sort of jobs these creative types will end up in? DD says she would like to make bunnies for Aardman, having watched it on Wallace & Gromit Curse of the Were Rabbit.

Is it a recognised syndrome

My dd has been a lifelong complusive creator and shows no signs of stopping (she'll be 11 in January)

She too has been making lots of Halloween things including a spider brooch (coloured pipe cleaner legs and googly eyes) to wear on her lapel to a Halloween party and today a jack o lantern "face" in the garden using leaves and apples from the tree with twig frame

It doesn't help that she knows the presenter of Art Attack's son

OMG!!! no comfort for you from me, I'm afraid. My DS, just turned 4, has been like this for the past few months and the thought that he might keep it up for the next couple of years makes me quake in my boots.

His idea of a brilliant time is to get boxes or kitchen roll holders out of the recylcing bag and to cut them up into a zillion tiny pieces. He collects the postman's rubber bands and begs me to help him make a bow and arrow out of them just as I'm trying to make dinner. He draws about 30 pictures a day. And asks me for "an empty tissue box, some glue, and a piece of cloth, mummy, because I'm making a sailing boat" about 10 seconds after I've opened my eyes in the morning.

Oh I love him to pieces and everything, but why can't he just watch cartoons for hours at a time like normal 4 year olds??????????
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yes, dd2 and dd3 are both like this. They make some amazing stuff! dd2 is 12 BTW and dd3 8, so don't expect it to end any time soon. Hope it doesnt - I love seeing what they come up with. They amaze me with their creativity.

dd1 and dd4 can't be bothered.

DS1 (5.9) is the same - little bits of paper, books he has written, models made out of boxes and stickers all over the place. I keep them for a week or so then put them in the recycling

it's very wearing - especially as he hasn't realised that tidying up after a craft session is a good idea.....

My 6yo DD1 is like this too. Her drawing is fantastic although some of her model-making is a bit weird!

She has a craft cupboard in the boiler room that's full of paint, brushes, paper, glue, stickers, pens, materials etc. And we have an easel in the back hall.

She also hates throwing any of it out (but we do anyway).

Curiously, she's not so keen on 'craft kits'. We currently have unopened boxes of chair, plant pot, piggy bank, ribbon purses, bird house, 2 x jewellery boxes, etc. Everyone buys her craft kits when what she'd really like is a big cardboard box from ELC full of bottles of paint, pompoms, pipe cleaners, glitter, googly eyes etc.

Sounds familiar Daphne! Recent conversation with DD went something like this (just when I'm putting the tea out):

DD "Mum I need some pink felt, some lace, a needle and pink thread and some pot pourri to make a smelly cushion like the one in my comic"

Me "sorry we haven't got any of those things and anyway your tea's ready now"

DD "But I NEED them!"

Me "But we haven't got them and it's teatime"

DD [wails of despair] eventually followed by "what is pot pourri anyway?"

During the school holidays we have half the dining room table covered in newspaper with permanent "projects" happening

Her favourite presents are what she calls "stationery" but mean everything from acrylics and watercolours to sellotape and glitter glue and back up to jewellery making kits

She started at about 18 months with an ELC easel and big fat paintbrush

We have branched into French knitting and normal knitting recently

Pound shops are also a good source for craft stuff as are the big supermarkets.

Like this The kids decorated the drawer fronts and it is perfect for pencils and pens. There are other units with A4 size drawers and bigger deep drawers for pompoms and scraps, We have 5 of these units togehter and it is still overflowing

i do art clubs and have noticed quite alot of children that have compulsive creative streaks, it's great!

I had one. She is now 11 and sells the cards she makes and earns herself quite a bit of extra money. Go with it - think of the saving in pocket money!

dd2 made a viking ship out of bits and pieces when she was 6 for a project at school. The school still use it for lessons - that was almost 7 years ago! Creative children are NEVER bored so there are advantages.

I used to sell notebooks, cards, boxes and tags I made at school and spent all my takings on sweets .

Thanks Skribble - that looks good. She used to have a craft drawer and now she has a craft box which is overflowing so a craft storage unit is the logical next step, followed by a craft room probably.

Creative earning at 11 miniseeker - nice one!

So what creative careers beckon do you think?

yes my niece is a bit like this and I was too. I used to sew and knit little toys for my school friends. I didn't go into an artistic job (although it is design related) but my hobbies have stayed with me, like my stash of material, wool and trimmings, all my life.

Why not try to get her into something that needs more skill and a slower result, like cross stitch? Might slow down the manic production rate and mess.

I'm hoping DD1 4 yo will become a bit more creative soon. I was a creative child but she is more into music and dance. I once collected loads of toilet roll insides and egg boxes and said 'hey, let's make a crocodile!' she looked at me and said 'why?'...I had to do it all by myself....[sniff]

My DD (7) too. Her current pash is making fairy dresses/ballgowns/cloaks from fallen pretty virginia creeper (bright red) and fig leaves, bits of grass flowers etc.

She then leaves them out for the fairies to take, which they remember to most of the time .

She is never lost for something to do, especially now she has a little sewing machine and is getting the hang of embroidery.

Ds (3yo) is very into his 'making things'.

I have more creations than I know what to do with but then so do the gps

He's also very into making up songs, stories, music, cooking generally.

I'm not really like this at all - so just leave him to get on with it. HE seems to know what he is doing.

BTW art supplies for kids are very cheap in asda at mo - big packs of different types of paper (shiny, coloured, corrugated etc) and packs with googly eyes/pompoms etc in. About £2.50-£5 (ds just had his birthday - saved us a fortune ).

We use a chest similar to that ikea one (ours is old crayola one) to keep part of ds stuff in (far too much of it).

He has free reign to lot of it (though not the glue, never the glue, or the glitter - my carpet twinkles )

My child seems to be compulsively messy - compulsively creative sounds wonderful in comparison - unless it involves glitter of course. I took my beady off compulsively messy child while glueing the other day (her that is, I was MN) and you wouldn't believe the places I am finding glitter...

well at age 13 we had a film crew here the entire day, his bedroom houses 3 guitars a veritable shop full of manga/specialist art products and he regularly produces work for friends/family by commission.
Aside from that life is quite ordinary...

Believe me they can be both.

Ds told me I couldn't read, sing, chat this afternoon - I could tidy instead

I had a couple of hours earlier. He had messed it up AGAIN.

His role was to lie back on sofa and watch me tidy apparently

I do get lots of home made 'presents' though. Several a day. He draws a picture and wraps it around something. Other bits of paper = good. Bits of half chewed food = bad.

You have to be careful when opening.

He makes otbers presents as well - 'Granma will love this' he says presenting some manky food with a bit of glitter wrapped in soggy paper.

I'm not sure she loves him that much