It is difficult - when I show my girlfriend a trick, I usually mumble through it and say "then I'd say something like this" or "I'd waffle about that for a bit", but unfortunately, you do need to practice the patter if you are to have any idea about how long a trick takes etc. It will also give you confidence as you can identify the "off beats" - some things seem so difficult when you're rocketing through a routine in front of a mirror with no patter, but throw in the lines (even better, practice on a friend) and you realise you've got all the time in the world to get that break or do that double undercut!
What I find helps is to have key lines. I know some people (Eugene Burger) insists people should have word for word scripts from start to finish, but if I know my opening line, the patter that surrounds each instruction to them and the finishing line, that's usually enough to hold it together.
Re. spongeballs, I really recommend Steve Dacri's "Spongeball Toolbox". Watching the way Steve handles the sponges had a massive impact on handling - there's this sort of graceful fluidity which I think really sells it (and I hope that this would be begrudgingly backed up by the few people on this forum who have seen me with sponge balls
) But yeah, sponge balls go down well for kids... and adults... everyone to be honest!
