I was disappointed at first, because brand new these are no softer than a T-ball, but more expensive. After some use, however, the ball broke in and became softer. My 6 y.o. was afraid of the ball, and would shy away from it. After the ball bounced off his glove a couple of times and hit him in the face and realized it wasn't as hard or painful he started going to the ball. Within a month he was regularly catching and stopped shying away from it. Get this and break them in. Fantastic for learning to catch and playing indoors.
I bought these a few years ago to help teach my oldest son how to catch, they were great. I ordered another set for my youngest son but these showed up very different. The first set was soft, these ones are overstuffed and are basically as hard as a baseball (which defeats the whole purpose).
If you are looking to introduce your children into baseball I would highly recommend getting a Swax baseball. It has the same weight as a regular baseball but with the added benefit of being padded.It is perfect for learning how to catch a ball especially for younger kids that are not very well coordinated, my 6 and 8 year old are getting better confidence at catching different ball variations without the risk of getting too badly hurt if they miss.While this is not as solid as a traditional baseball it can still hurt if you throw it with a decent amount of speed.If you are looking to do anything else besides playing catch, I don't know how durable this ball would be for hitting,
Just started using this training ball with my 11 year old grandson who has never played. The ball has good weight and feel when throwing it. The exterior is soft so it alleviates the fear of getting hit. It feels good when it hit your glove. It is heavy enough to help break in a new glove. We both enjoy playing catch with it. I would recommend this ball for young beginners.
These are great for gaining confidence for young players. My 5 year old was too afraid to catch pop flys or balls thrown fast to his chest/face. A couple minutes with this ball and his confidence sky rocketed. These are also great to play catch inside, since it feels like a textured bean bag.