Anyone had experience of this?

Forgot to mention, colouring books, Agree to a point with other comments but I rip the pages out and let the child choose a sheet. The books are bulky and not practical.Similarly there are loads of sites for free colouring pages to print that you could choose together .

I think you should just not worry about it. I am sure it is not indicative of problems ahead - I can't think what those problems might be. She will develop writing skills when she is ready.

I think that if people try and push her to do it when she clearly has no interest at this stage could in itself cause problems ahead.

I am all for children being real children and getting stuck into their own imagined world - time enough for formal skills. A whole lifetime in fact!!

I fully appreciate how hard it is to keep an active young person happy - I look after two of these creatures twice a week! Perhaps have lots of things like dressing-up stuff, spaces to make dens from the sofa cushions, tea sets etc.

Mine love going in our dilapidated summer house and creating a restaurant. They have old pans etc. and use the gravel from the drive and my flowers (!!) to make meals, and have pretend menus and jobs as waiters or cooks - they love it. Now and again I repair the drive!! The same summer house is also an aquarium apparently and I have to pay to go in and see the non-existent fish!

They also like joining on housework - especially the cobweb brush!

One likes crafty things, the other not at all. That's fine.

Does your DGD ever see you or other adults doing any colouring or crafts ? I would buy myself a couple of colouring books and a packet of felt pens ,turn the TV off and just sit quietly at a table and do some myself. When DGD asks what you are doing , you could say " something that makes me happy/relaxed /calm/that I enjoy ". You could sit her on your lap, show her what you're doing and how good it makes you feel, and my guess is that she will want to join in at some point. Get her to help you with yours.
It could be that she is unsure what to do, how to hold a pencil, etc. Have some blank paper (preferably a A4 blank paged notebook that you can write her name on) and age appropriate colouring books handy,not on display,
"Perhaps you'd like to join me ?"
(Do not worry about how she holds pencil that first few times, that can come later )
Might take a few attempts, but my guess is that once she sees that it is a fun/relaxing pastime she will want to give it a go.
Just a suggestion.

Luckygirl, I'm certainly not trying to push her on and I agree with you about colouring books but, though having worked with a lot of children, I've never met one who had such a marked dislike and can't help wondering if it's indicative of problems ahead.

Jane10 she much prefers the role play activities. You can see her creating stories in her head and she gets quite irritated if another child disrupts her story line. She's never had any truck with leggo, building bricks, jigsaws etc. either. Makes her quite hard to keep occupied at times especially as her other love is being out and very active and I'm 72 and a bit arthritic.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to worry about this at all. She's doing other things. I cannot think what harm it might do her.

As to colouring books - they are the work of the devil for little children. Firstly they cannot do it and have the disappointment of seeing that; and secondly they are better off doing free painting where they can make a big splash with colour just for the heck of it.

I get quite irritated (perhaps you can tell!) by this trend of feeding children down the same tube in an attempt to "push them on" - what for I ask myself?

Let her develop her own interests and talents and chuck the colouring pencils in the bin!

I could have written Greenfinch’s post word for word. Just keep an eye on her handwriting, though girls don’t seem to have the same difficulties with handwriting that boys do.

My grandson has always been like this. At the age of 11 he still finds it difficult to create anything on paper but give him some lego bricks and he is away. It hasn't been a problem for him except that his handwriting is still poor but even that is improving very slowly.I wouldn't worry.

My youngest son was a bit like that, he had no interest in colouring books etc. He only did such stuff when he had to at school never at home where he could choose what to do. His older brother loved drawing.
They are the same with reading, eldest always has a book with him while youngest never reads one.

Yes, what is it that she does in preference to drawing? One of my DGSs is like that but he loves constructing things, cars and trains.

I wouldn't worry. If she's still like this in a couple of years' time, then maybe it needs to be investigated. Meanwhile what's the harm in letting her do something she does enjoy? So long as she's playing happily, leave her alone.