Squiggly Hands to Help Handwriting Control

To help students practice control of any writing tool, use these gummy "helper" hands to keep them on track and motivated.  Stand up at a portable dry erase board and smash a gummy hand onto the board somewhere around the top.  Then, smash a gummy partner somewhere toward the bottom and challenge the student to draw a road connecting the two.  If the student can only handle a straight vertical line, that's fine.  For students with better control, how about drawing a curly-que line?

 For beginners, use lines mostly going top to bottom and left to right.  You can incorporate right to left lines and diagonals as students improve in drawing the basic lines.

 Now, the board is getting visually-cluttered which is wonderful for figure-ground discrimination.  Be sure to keep changing what color marker you use.

 Who says you can't use letters to create your road?

 Make sure the students do lots of bending during the activity.  Put the markers and erasers in the bins below the dry erase board to passively build in this component of the activity.  Some students will try to avoid changing planes due to vestibular concerns so let them lean over, bend at the knees, whatever it takes to reach down and grasp the item they want from the bin (or from the floor).
Here's a visual hodgepodge created by three students.

You can do the same thing at the chalkboard or on a large piece of paper taped to the wall or door.  Use markers, crayons, chalk.....
Try turning out the overhead lights and having the student trace the path of your flashlight on the drawing surface.....Talk about attention-getting!

Update:  A few months ago I found the gummy hands somewhere like Big Lots, CVS or Walgreens.  You might look at Pocket Full of Therapy online, too.