How do I host a casual tournament for elementary level players? I am a chess instructor teaching a summer camp class of 20-ish kids at the 2nd-6th grade. 

I want to hold a tournament on the last day of the camp. Any ideas on how to carry this out are appreciated. Here are my concerns:


The session is only 2 hours long. Therefore I can arrange between 5 and 6 rounds, max. 
I don't want to have an elimination style because I want everyone to feel like their games still matter towards the end. 
I don't have the kids' ratings but I do have them seeded based on observing their play for the last three weeks. 
I anticipate most of the games ending in a draw, therefore I would like to incorporate points (captured material) as a method for tie breaking. 


Thanks in advance.
(I work for an after school chess program... I've run 100ish end-of-session tournaments for K-6 kids).

Not sure why you anticipate so many draws... I see maybe 95% checkmates, 4% stalemates and the occasional insufficient material or "failure to make progress" (TD discretion in lieu of 50-move rule).

My goal is to keep kids playing: finished games get new pairings as soon as opponents are available. I don't use clocks, might for older kids if I had them available. I don't track losses. I don't allow resignations. I do track the order they arrive at a given checkmate total. So if I have two kids with three checkmates the one who got to three first prevails.

Yes, there's inherent unfairness in this format. Speed matters. Getting in a tight, slow game can be fatal to kids who should've been contenders. Less offensive to me than having a bunch of kids in an extended wait for the next round. I only have an hour, I really need to be efficient.

I LOATHE piece-value based scoring. I had to do it a couple of times when I was an assistant and it wasn't my decision. It's kind of the only option if you've got kids that can't get checkmates though. But even K/1 groups, if you don't have at least half capable of winning a game after 8 sessions their instructor is a problem.

I don't do a lot of seeding, but I try to keep the contenders away from each other on the initial pairings.