It depends on how your little league runs it as well. Our little league there are no outs or scores and everyone bats. It is designed to just get kids out there.

If your league is similar, I would focus on basics like the order of the bases to run, hitting off the tee, and fielding grounders/throwing back to coach. There is little utility in having them throw to each other early on.

I would also hope you can recruit a couple more assistants to help with practice. The more stations you can run and rotate through will help keep their attention span. Hour or less for practice. Frequent water breaks.

Don't focus only on winning at this age and most leagues won't keep score. As a coach, you want the kids to want to come to practice and games and sign up the next year. Focus on developing the fundamentals and having fun.

I agree with the other guys having stations to have more reps and less standing around. Rotate stations. You can have hitting off of a tee into a net, a station where they throw to an adult and learn the correct form, fly ball station with wiffle balls and a timed ground ball station. I would have them run to first and tell them the times. Average is around 5 seconds. You then have them field grounders and have the team count the time out loud to see if they can complete the play in that 5 second period. I also had a rule where you always have somewhere to go when a ball was hit. Show them the bases to cover and where to back up. You'll be surprised what the pick up and you avoid having 6 kids go for the ball. It also keeps everyone doing something when they don't get the ball to make it less boring. Teach them to run to the RF grass pass first on a single and to the fence when crossing home as it gives them a target. Use wiffle balls to work on pop flys to get them comfortable.

Yes, you could have the best kids at P or 1st, but the are the kids that get most every ball during a game and it will become boring for everyone else. I would rotate kids between IF and OF each inning and around spots in the field. RF can be more exciting if you teach them how to back up 1st.

On game days, get little plastic buckets with their name on them. for them to put their glove, helmet and water bottle in and place them on the ground in their batting order. I would keep the same order and shift everyone down 3-4 spots every game (bottom few jump to the top), so it gives them all a chance to hit early and it makes it easier for them to stay in order. I would also rotate who got a game ball each game (coaches kids last). They get so excited to have their named called. You'll get stories/pictures of the kids taking their ball out to dinner or sleeping in bed with it.

Please note I didn't always keep it even like that. Starting coach pitch I would rotate around in the majority of the regular season, before having more set slots on the field and order for end of season and playoffs. They are still young and developing so you have to give them some opportunity to improve. I had a kid in first year kid pitch who wanted to be catcher. He would take the gear and work on it, but it was still rough early in the season and parents would complain about him being back there. By the end of the season they would complain if he wasn't back there. He is still catching on his 14u team.

Good luck and have fun!

Agree with everything here. Key is having fun.

I'm just a few years ahead and I've been the head coach. I think one of the major things, which I believe has been stated was to set expectations that its a recreational league and the purpose should be to have fun. I'm about as competitive as they come, and the only way my wife would let me coach was when I told her that my only goals for the team was

1) Have the kids pay attention and get a little better each practice
2) Have fun
3) Make it so that each kid enjoyed themselves and wanted to come back and play baseball again and hopefully I did a good enough job that they wanted to play with me again. The game is for the kids, when it gets frustrating (and it will) just remember that

I communicated these goals to all the parents of the kids on my team.

Stations are always a good bet, keep the kids as busy as possible as the attention spans are incredibly short.

Recruit as much help as you possibly can.

I always started each practice with a goal that we communicated to the kids(early on talking about having a good attitude, next practice giving great effort, etc)

Then we would run the bases (A HUGE goal of mine for the first goal, was to have every kid hit it off the tee, then run to the correct base) and baserunning drills

Then would split into stations

For tee ball my stations were hitting off a tee into a net (invest in a good tanner tee as somoene recommended above, they hold up, and I'd imagine if you wanted to sell it, you'd still end up in a decent spot, those things can really take a beating)

1) Hitting off a tee into a net
2) Fielding/Throwing drills (stat in a "baseball ready" stance, land the airplane by bending the knees, alligator the glove/hand, then hop on the skateboard to make the throw)
3) Working on catching balls in the air (just light throws maye 10 feet in the air from about 15-20 feet, increasing the distance based on ability). If kids are scared of the ball, try with whiffle and tennis balls at first until they are comfortable.
4) Then we would have group fielding grounders at pitchers mound, 2nd base and then throwing to a kid at first base to at least simulate what a game may be. I'd estimate at least 75% either went to the pitcher or 2nd baseman during games.

Make all of these a game (see how many in a row they can hit right back straight into the net without missing, how many catch in a row) Most kids respond very well when you make things a competition.

I was very up front with the parents on my team, I told them I would send out the lineup a day before each game (batting order and positions). In our teeball league, you would hit your entire lineup each inning. So I would also rotate the batting order moving kids up 3-4 spots each game giving all the kids a chance to hit all over the place. I wanted to send out the lineup so that if parents had any objections to their kids playing pitcher or catcher, I wanted to know sooner rather than later. Also, if they were going to play pitcher or catcher (5 year olds in full catchers gear is hilarious) I wanted them to know and be ready to take pictures and not miss that inning.

It was a really fun season, I had zero complaints and the kids got so much better. It's amazing to watch them grow and really have fun. Also, if you are in the field with them during a game, be ready for anything, and to also have some of the funniest conversations you may ever have.

Good Luck and have fun!