Improving pencil grip/handwriting for reluctant writer

[WhatMakesYouSay]

My ds (8, just finishing yr3) struggles with writing. The teacher he's had since Easter (third of 3 temps) has done some work with him, and he has made some improvements in his pencil grip, however his writing is still fairly bad.

According to him, it doesn't hurt to write (and he says it didn't before, but it does feel more natural now), but he doesn't like it. He says he feels that his writing is too slow and he can't get his thoughts down properly, which has a knock on effect that he produces very limited quantities of written work, so he isn't getting much practice, and it seems to be a vicious circle.

His report highlights this as the main area for improvement, as he has good ideas verbally, or when he's typing, but his handwritten work lets him down. We're not getting a parent's evening with this teacher (and his yr4 teacher will be a new starter so I can't talk to her in advance either) so I don't know what kind of things have been suggested in school, so can any of the wonderful experts on here suggest what I can offer over the summer to improve both the quality of his writing, and his desire to produce written work?

He wants a subscription to Maths Factor summer camp thing, which will be his reward if he does some of the things I want (he loves maths, and we have no problems getting him to do that!)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I would work more on his hand muscles than making him do lots of writing, tbh - a bit like you see any sportsman warm up before playing, it sounds as if he could do with loosening up the muscles before writing.
Things like play dough / plasticine where the fingers have to work (or get him making your bread, with real dough )
or
wringing out cloths / towels / clothes
or
unsticking lego bricks that have stuck fast
or
put elastic band around fingers (first thumb and forefinger, then thumb and middle finger, etc.) and stretch and close a few times
or
squashing a sponge ball or challenge him to squash a tennis ball
also
get him to carry things / carry a weight in front of him...
eg
carry a tray (of dinner or drinks or anything)
or
carry a couple of chairs across the room / garden
or
pour things - say a jug of water out into glasses

Generally, before he writes, he should 'loosen up' his muscles by shaking his fingers as fast as he can, and circling his hands round from the wrist, and "throwing away" his fingers from a tightened fist (sorry, don't really know how to describe that one )

Other than that, it might be worth working on his typing skills - learning to touch type is such a valuable skill. He might not be able to use it much in Primary school, but once he has to start handing homeworkin, in secondary, anything that involves a lot of writing can usually be done on a word processor.

Thanks, BackForGood. I get what you mean about 'throwing your fingers away - like you are flicking water off your fingers tips, yes?

He does like to type, and his typing isn't bad - he's not up to touch typing yet, but he knows his way around the keyboard. The thing is, his answer so far, when I try to get him to write more neatly, has always been that it is pointless and once he's grown up he'll only need to type! Now, I accept that this is probably true, but I also think it is important that he learn to write so that it is legible.

He loves Lego, so a few minutes extra each day unsticking bricks should be doable. I can probably combine the 'carrying stuff' one with getting him to take the unending boxes of Lego back to his room every day, too, and kill two birds with one stone!

Thanks again for the suggestions, there's definitely some stuff we can work on there :)