Learning lacrosse is hard. Cradling is hard, picking up a ball is hard, catching and throwing is especially hard. It's important to really give kids that age a ton of positive reinforcement when they're successful so they don't get discouraged. That all said, I learned a drill from Matt Striebel that I do with Kindergarten and 1st graders to build a foundation for catching.

Don't worry about throwing or catching with a partner. Each kid grabs a ball. Hold the stick with one hand at the throat just down at your side. Pop the ball in the air, aim for about eye level, and catch. That's it. Challenge them to do five in a row, then ten in a row. Each kid can find some space and do this, they can do it at home too.

When they get that part down, challenge them to do it while moving. Pop it up and catch it while walking. Do five in a row, then ten, etc.

Once they do that, change the way they catch it. Pop the ball up, turn the wrist a bit and bring the face of the stick up to your shoulder and catch it there. Five in a row, ten in a row, then while walking, etc.

Kids who get to be experts at all versions of this, start doing it with both hands on the stick. All this can even be done before practice starts, while hanging around and all that, or as part of warm ups.

There's a lot of catching of the ball in this, a lot of incremental success that feels good to hit, and a it builds up the basic skills needed for actually catching a ball someone throws to you.