Novice Kid Play and Declaring Winners when Recess is Over Children at my school have become very interested in playing chess during morning break and in before/after care.  However, they only have a limited amount of time to play and must clean up...so, they cannot leave pieces on the board.  In this situation, what is the best way to declare a winner?  

Is it fair to use point count for the pieces captured?
Point count is a fair way to start evaluating a chess position; even the strongest computer engines do so. I see two potential problems:


One player might have less material but an initiative, e.g. a strong kingside attack. On this level, it is not usual to sacrifice material for an initiative, so this might not be a big problem for you.
What constitutes a decisive advantage? One pawn is -usually- not enough to win an endgame, but it might be, when combined with other advantages.