How to Teach Kids to Hit a Baseball

Hitting a baseball is technically the most difficult thing to do in all of sports--and yet children can do it starting at the age of 3 in some cases. Nothing is better for a beginning hitter than hitting a ball off of a tee--but that gets boring for kids really fast. Here are steps for teaching the real thing.

Instructions

1. 

   Lay tape on the ground as a marker for their feet. The best thing you can do for a beginner batter is teach them where their feet go. I use masking tape for the markers.

2. 

   Have them hold the bat with their front hand on the bottom. Kids will usually hold the bat incorrectly about 50 percent of the time. Line up their knuckles straight down the bat.

3. 

   Make sure they are swinging along their belt line and not chopping down at the ball.

4. 

   Make sure they follow through and finish their swing.

5. 

   Have the kids pitch to each other. This is not as efficient as an adult pitching, but kids need to learn to not swing at bad pitches.

Tips & Warnings

• The key to teaching hitting is repetition. As the old saying goes: "Practice does not make perfect, PERFECT PRACTICE makes perfect." So be sure the kids are taking good cuts at the ball each time.

Resources

• Rock and Roll Kindergarten