The past few days, my 6 yr old son and his 2 buddies about the same age, have been attempting to shoot baskets in the driveway and getting a little frustrated.  Since I have 3 older daughters who can shoot at the normal 10 ft. basket, it makes it hard for us to keep lowering the basket to 8 ft. for my son and his friends.  But leave it to kids to figure out a solution and to be honest the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense.  Do you know those bouncy balls we all see at the grocery store?  The ones our kids and every other kids either are playing with in the store or beg us to buy and only have the dog pop it!  Well my son and his friends began shooting one of those balls at the 10 ft. basket and all of a sudden the ball was going in on a regular basis and their excitement level increased.  With the lighter ball, they were able to maintain a decent shooting form for their age and not put so much effort into "chucking" the regular basketball and getting into bad habits.  Also, they were able to dribble the lighter ball easier and control it better, and pass it to one another without worrying about getting hit in the nose!  I think for kids in the pre-k, kindergarten and 1st grade ages, this might be a way to maintain their confidence, so that when they are strong enough, they can reach the bigger basket.  Remember, boys or girls, in the 1st through 3rd grades, should be using the smaller woman's basketball as well for just the same reasons.  The smaller ball is a nice transition for boys because they can handle it better and again avoid learning to many bad habits.  Overall, a simple, fun and effective solution to "reaching your goal".