I have done this type of [tag]baseball batting drills[/tag] with young kids and even older ones and they all seem to enjoy it.
Basically the hitter stands in the batter’s box or backed up to a fence and the pitcher, usually the [tag]baseball coach[/tag], stands about 20 feet away. The batter stands like he would be hitting, however the catch is he must turn his head away from the pitcher, like back towards the catcher. The ball is thrown, pitched underhand for the small kids, and then the coach yells “ball” and the batter must turn his head back toward the pitcher, pick up the [tag]baseball[/tag] and then try to hit it.
This tends to make the batter focus more on picking up the ball, and improves bat speed as well. I usually start with whiffle balls or rubber or soft balls. Also the distance can get shorter between the pitcher and batter as the hitter gets better.
Another thing I use for [tag]batting practice[/tag] is to use two tees one behind the other. The front tee holds the ball the rear tee is set slightly lower with no ball. Player needs to swing through to hit ball without hitting rear tee. Object is to stop young batters swinging up under the ball.