10 Best Tee Ball Drills for 4, 5, and 6 Year Olds

The Secret to Coaching Tee Ball

Here's the most important thing to know about coaching 4, 5, and 6 year olds: their attention span is about 5 minutes. Maybe 7 if you're really captivating. So every drill needs to be short, fun, and involve as little standing around as possible.

The second most important thing: at this age, you're not teaching baseball. You're teaching kids to love moving, throwing, catching, and swinging. If they have fun, they'll come back. If they come back, they'll learn. It's that simple.

Here are 10 drills that actually work with this age group — tested by real coaches with real wiggly kids.

1. The Rainbow Throw

What it teaches: Throwing mechanics and arc

How it works: Pair up kids about 10 feet apart. Tell them to throw the ball "over the rainbow" to their partner — high and arcing. This naturally teaches them to get their arm up and follow through rather than shot-putting the ball at their partner's shins.

Pro tip: Use tennis balls or soft training balls. At this age, a real baseball to the face ends practice real quick.

2. Bucket Toss

What it teaches: Throwing accuracy

How it works: Place a bucket (or an upside-down cone, or a hula hoop on the ground) about 8–10 feet away. Each kid gets 5 balls and tries to land them in the bucket. Count the ones that go in. Kids naturally compete with themselves.

Why it works: It's a game, not a drill. The kids don't know they're working on accuracy because they're too busy trying to beat their last score.

3. Alligator Chomps

What it teaches: Fielding ground balls

How it works: Roll ground balls to the kids. They field them by putting their glove on the ground (the bottom jaw) and their throwing hand on top (the top jaw) to "chomp" the ball like an alligator. Yell "CHOMP!" when they squeeze it. They will absolutely love this.

Pro tip: Roll the ball softly and directly at them. This is about building the habit of getting the glove down. Challenging grounders come later — much later.

4. Traffic Light Bases

What it teaches: Base running and listening

How it works: Line up all the kids at home plate. You stand at the pitcher's mound and yell colors:

• "Green!" — Run to the next base
• "Yellow!" — Slow down (jog in place)
• "Red!" — Stop and freeze

They run the bases based on your calls. It teaches them where the bases are, gets them running, and works on listening — which is about 70% of coaching this age group.

5. Ball Patrol

What it teaches: Fielding and hustle

How it works: Scatter 20–30 balls around the outfield. Split kids into two teams. On "Go!", both teams race to collect as many balls as possible and bring them back to their bucket. Most balls wins. Chaos will ensue. That's fine.

Why it works: It gets every kid moving, picking up balls, and running — all fundamental skills disguised as a race.

6. Freeze Tag Fielding

What it teaches: Ready position and reaction

How it works: Play regular freeze tag, but when a kid gets frozen, they have to stand in "ready position" (knees bent, glove out, hands ready) until someone tags them free. This sneaks the fielding ready position into something they already love doing.

7. Tee Stations

What it teaches: Hitting fundamentals

How it works: Set up 3–4 tees in a row, spaced well apart, each facing into a fence or net. Groups of 3–4 kids rotate through. Each kid gets 5 swings, then rotates to the next tee. The other kids in the group practice fielding the balls.

Key coaching cues (keep it to 2 max at this age):

• "Watch the ball"
• "Swing hard!"

That's it. Don't overcoach the swing mechanics. They need reps and confidence, not a biomechanics lecture.

8. Coach Says (Baseball Edition)

What it teaches: Baseball positions and vocabulary

How it works: It's "Simon Says" but baseball-themed:

• "Coach says... fielding position!" (ready stance)
• "Coach says... swing the bat!" (mime a swing)
• "Coach says... throw the ball!" (throwing motion)
• "Catch the ball!" (no "Coach says" — anyone who moves is out)

This is a great warm-up drill and teaches terminology without anyone realizing they're learning.

9. Home Run Derby (Tee Edition)

What it teaches: Hitting with power and excitement

How it works: Set up a tee at home plate. Mark "home run lines" with cones at reasonable distances (40 feet, 50 feet, 60 feet). Each kid gets 3 swings. Any ball past the first cone is a "single," past the second is a "double," past the third is a "HOME RUN!" Cheer loudly for everything.

Why it works: Every kid wants to hit a home run. The progressive distances mean even a modest hit gets celebrated as a single, so nobody feels bad. And the big hitters get their hero moment.

10. Water Break Relay

What it teaches: Base running, speed, and hydration

How it works: When it's water break time, don't just call them in. Line them up and race them to the water cooler as a relay. First team to have all players drink and return wins. It makes the transition fun instead of herding cats, and they actually drink water instead of just pouring it on each other.

Putting It All Together

A great tee ball practice looks like this:

• 0–5 min: Coach Says warm-up
• 5–15 min: Rainbow Throws or Bucket Toss
• 15–25 min: Alligator Chomps or Ball Patrol
• 25–30 min: Water Break Relay
• 30–45 min: Tee Stations or Home Run Derby
• 45–50 min: Traffic Light Bases
• 50–55 min: Team cheer and done!

Short segments, constant movement, lots of cheering. That's the formula. For a complete practice plan builder that handles the timing and drill selection for you, check out our Practice Planner — just select your age group and it does the rest.

Remember, Coach: if they're smiling, you're winning.