Colouring,drawing is a good way to exercise hand. My son made an amazing progress since we've started it as a quiet time activity every day before dinner. Re:writing we had the books where he had to copy lots of all shapes of lines. I blame the schools for the bad handwriting,they are rushed to quickly to write letters,long before the hands are fully developed to do that,it's hard to correct them after couple of years of messing the letters up...in some countries children start school at the age of 7 and don't need to write more than few lines till they are 9,here they are sitting exams at the age of 7...I am sure he is brilliant at something else! I only did the extra staff as I was getting fed up at seeing 9!books in year 1!full of awful writing and I couldn't believe that they have to write so much without learning how to write letters properly first:(.