With a wide variety of instruments, electronics, and art equipment to choose from,TheSims 2: Legacy Editiongives artistic Sims a whole playground to choose from. To make the most of all the items available, you’ll need to be ready to level your Sims’ Creativity skill.

Maxing the Creativity skill is fun for storytelling purposes when making Sims with a passion for the arts, as it’s mostly built by writing novels, painting pictures, or making music. It’s also a useful skill when playing with Sims that stray from the traditional career path, as it offers some lucrative alternative methods for making money.

A Sim in The Sims 2 painting art on an easel in Pleasantview.

What Is The Creativity Skill Good For?

The Creativity skill is useful for a number of differentaspirations, careers, hobbies, and interests. It also gives Sims the opportunity toearn Simoleons from homeby painting and selling art on the easel.

Gaining Aspiration Points

There isn’t an aspiration directly relating to creativity in The Sims 2, butSims with theKnowledge or Pleasure Aspirationare likely to especially enjoy building their Creativity skill.

Getting Promoted At Work

Several careers in The Sims 2need theCreativity skill to get promoted:

Some will only need you tostart building the skill lateron, like theSlacker career, while others will need your Sims tolevel it earlier, like theEntertainment career.

A couple in The Sims 2 building creativity together. One is playing violin and the other drums.

Somecareers have unlockable itemsassociated with them that can also help Sims grow their Creativity skill.

The Slacker career has theAquaGreen Hydroponic Garden, which can be used to level Creativity while developing an enthusiasm for the Nature hobby, for example. TheSensoTwitch Lie Finder itemis also useful and can be unlocked by Sims in the Criminal career.

The menu for writing a novel in The Sims 2. It shows topics and book covers.

If you really want these items but don’t want to play through that career path, you canuse cheats to unlock them.

Building Creative Hobby Enthusiasm

As your Sims build their Creativity skill, they’ll also naturally build theirenthusiasm for particular hobbies. The mainhobbies they might buildthrough creative activities are:

Ways To Build The Creativity Skill

Unlike in later iterations of The Sims, which break skills down in more detail,all artistic pursuits can be used to build the Creativity skillin The Sims 2. In a way, that makes it easier to make a Sim into a creative genius than ever. Sims can build their Creativity skill using musical instruments, a computer, and more.

Teen Sims can also go to university to build their skills more, but any Adult or Elder Sims have unfortunately already missed their chance.

A child in The Sims 2 playing synthesiser in a bedroom and building the creativity skill.

Items Needed To Max The Creativity Skill

You can find most of the items you need to build the Creativity skill under theHobbies menu in Buy Mode. From there you can find a Creativity sub-menu which includes:

There are some other items dotted around Buy Mode that can help your Sims build Creativity, too. For instance, Sims canuse any computer to write novels.

When you first make or start playing in a new household, a Sim will give you a free computer, sodon’t waste your hard-earned Simoleons on a new one.

If you plan on making musically-inclined Sims, then Nightlife and FreeTime both introducedDJ booths. These items can be used to build your Sims’ Creativity skills when used. You canfind these in Buy Mode, or you canhead to a clubDowntown to use theirs.

When youhover over an item in Buy Mode, you may see a description which includes asummary of which skills can be builtusing the item. It isn’t labelled very consistently, but it’s still useful to look out for.

Although you might expect them to help your Sims’ build their Creativity skill, the sewing machine, pottery table, and flower-arranging equipment don’t actually build skills at all. Instead, they help your Sims build their hobby enthusiasm.

Building Creativity For Toddlers And Children

Children and toddlerscan also build their Creativity skill. They can bothuse an activity table, including as a group activity, and toddlers can use theRip Co. Xylophone. These items can both be found under theChildren’s sub-menu in Miscellaneous.

However, you don’t have to buy either of these items if you don’t have toddlers.Children canuse most items that adults canto build their Creativity skills, including the violin, synthesiser, and pianos, all on their own.