In some of the other topics (MonRoi etc) parents/coaches have wanted simpler scorekeeping methods for the very young that can’t write yet. I’ve never actually tried what I’m about to suggest but think that it might work. Print out sheets of diagrams with no pieces. I did this experimentally and came up with 6 diagrams per sheet. Use the back of the sheet and you have twelve moves per sheet. 5 sheets then should cover most Kindergardners games. You can have the coordinates printed on the diagrams also. Now on each diagram you simply draw an arrow from where the piece was to where it went. Each diagram has 1 move for black and one for white. You want to get fancy end the black move in a circle. Once you’ve made your master copies of diagrams you simply photocopy them to make enough for a tournament.
And since the Kindergardners aren’t required to keep score in the first place this isn’t a question of writing etc. It is just a simple way of easing them into scorekeeping. You don’t need video cameras, expensive equipment or whatever.
Without the pieces on the diagrams, it might be harder for the player to find the right squares to mark. I’d have to try it for a few games to see how it worked, but it’s worth a shot.
It’d be easier if each square was marked instead of just the border, but I haven’t seen any standard chess boards made that way.
I’m sure there would still be a learning curve. But if they have learned how to move the pieces they should be able to learn to count 1234 over and 12345 up mark the start square and count or maybe even just visualize and mark the finish square. The sample sheet I printed out to see how it would look had the letters and numbers on the sides of the boards and that might just make it confusing. If you did have a board with each square number(with press on lettering for example) a1,b1 etc and labeled each diagram the same that might be workable. Although now we are getting into nonstandard equipment.
Maybe a board with the labels on each square could be used at some point when the kids can actually write. They could start keeping notation like e2e4 - d7d5 Having the names of the square in each corner would be a good learning tool if nothing else. Then once they have learned to keep notation like that they can move on up to regular notation.
It would be like a chess board with training wheels. 
Somehow, I have the feeling that, as soon as anybody tries anything even remotely resembling any of the ideas presented here, they will quickly find out that it doesn’t work at all.
Can anybody say, b-o-o-n-d-o-g-g-l-e ?
Bill Smythe
One of my favorite forms of notation is figurine. Perhaps we could give the kiddies a set of stencils and let them trace the outline of the pieces on their scoresheet. Each square could then have the coordinates already marked on it. So for example, for 1. h4 the player would trace the image that matches the pawn and then write down the h4 that appears on the square. Kinda like the begnner’s chess set with the moves of the pieces notated on the base.
Okay, boondoggle, there I said it.
Darn that was going to be my next suggestion.
There used to be a player in Rockford, Illinois who kept score in figurine. No stencils, either – he actually hand-drew the piece on each move.
That was the same guy who, when annotating for the state magazine, used descriptive notation for the game and algebraic for the notes.
Bill Smythe
I’VE GOT THE ANSWER!!!
Typewriters. Manual Typewriters!
We could even have them specially made with the piece symbols built in.
Use a two color ribbon – red for the white pieces and black for the black pieces! (oh no, wait. Doug said the color red is against the rules. Well we’ll think up something that’ll work – maybe outline symbols vs. solid symbols…).
No electronic parts, so they can’t receive a “signal” to cheat!
You don’t need to know how to write, just hit the correct button!
Old fashioned carbon paper if you need an extra copy (yet another reason we can’t use red ribbons, darn!). With a little extra work we can even use an organizer supplied scoresheet!
Finally something neat and cool to use all those old typewriters for! Think what this will do for the reputation of chess players! All of a sudden we’ll be heroes of “Reduce, reuse, recycle”! And the click of all those keys will tend to drown out any annoying conversations or other noises! The great benefits of this idea just go on and on! (have I missed any exclamations!?)
That would be annoying (rule 20G).
No! It’d be a white noise. It’d tend to drown out distracting sounds – the click is a FEATURE, not a bug. Think of it like the sound of the ocean or rainfall. Its soothing. Trust me!
White noise or the sound of the ocean or rainfall is still annoying (rule 20G).
I have attended a few US Blind Championships. Some of the players use a braille machine to record their moves. The blind players without the machines don’t seem to mind.
Nope. You can’t have my manual typewriter. It’s very decorative right where it is! 
Sorry, guys: I still don’t see the need for accurate notation during competition for little teeny kids. Not unless they’re on the top 100 list…and even then…
Aren’t you less concerned about having a record of some five-year-old’s game than you are about having him/her learn “pre-notation” and ultimately good old algebraic notation by the time they’re seven or so?
Do things that help them get to the point they can keep score sooner.
During lessons, make them tell you the coordinates of the square they want to move to instead of moving the piece. (“Sit on your hands and tell me your moves!”)
Give them a regular notation sheet with huge fill-ins, and only 10 moves on it. (“If you write down your first 10 moves, you get a treat.”)
Ask them to show you their final position on a board when they come out. (“If you can show me your final position, you get a treat.”)
Well, I don’t really want to get off the subject (typewriters rule!), but some added info for you:
At least one of the players we’ve been talking about IS on the top 100 list (a National Co-champion, as a matter of fact).
I agree that notation is the long-term goal. My daughter and I always use notation when we’re going over a chess problem – I always make her give me the move in algebraic notation.
Writing is still a pretty new skill to her, however. Maybe she’s progressed far enough by now that she COULD write on a score sheet. It’d be difficult and distracting though. Writing on a score sheet would be a major effort that would take her attention completely off the game and make the game much less enjoyable for her. Give her another year to practice writing and I’ll have no concerns about score-keeping. That she’s so close is the only reason I haven’t rushed out to buy a MonRoi. For someone a year or more younger than my daughter, I’d highly recommend the MonRoi if they are serious about chess and you’d like to help them improve.
Back to the subject at hand – if you don’t like my typewriter idea, I’ve got an idea for some metal stamps and stone tablets that should be acceptable. Nobody would object to a sound like fingernails scraping across a blackboard, would they?
What about rubber stamps with a picture of the piece, letters A-H, and numbers 1-8? Then they can stamp their pad, and stamp the paper. I did this for 9 weeks after surgery on my dominant hand in 2nd grade! 
If the goal is to have it be enjoyable for her, won’t it suffice to observe and give instruction during her non-tournament games?
How essential is it right now to know what’s going on during her rated games? Do you think she plays differently in the tournament room from how she plays skittles games? If so, is that likely to change by going over her games? Or will she always play differently during competition, simply because she’s little, she’s distracted by the strange environment, she doesn’t know her opponent, whatever?
Won’t ANY form of scorekeeping be distracting at this age?
She doesn’t have much chance for non-rated skittles games. The nearest rated player her age is around 30 miles away and 700 points higher rated. The un-rated players her age don’t give her much competition – she could beat some un-rated adults but doesn’t enjoy playing adults as much. Like I said, if I didn’t feel she’d be writing notation soon, I’d get a MonRoi. I might anyway (I’m a gadget addict).
A lot of things might be different if we didn’t live in a giant chess waste-land. The local schools don’t seem very interested in doing anything, even when we’ve pressed them. You’d think having a national scholastic champion (the nearest player her age) that lives nearby would draw some interest. It doesn’t.
I tend to agree with M Thorpe about the alternate scoring methods being more crutch than help. I remember when my daughter was young and I considered briefly remapping the keyboard alphabetically verses qwerty because she knew the alphabet. But then what happens when she is somewhere other than home?
But despite that here from the Department of Unusual Chess scoring methods is another completely unresearched score keeping method.
White Black
-
R N B Q K o oo ep ----- R N B Q K o oo ep
a b c d e f g h ----- a b c d e f g h
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ---- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 -
R N B Q K o oo ep ---- R N B Q K o oo ep
a b c d e f g h ----- a b c d e f g h
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ----- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 -
R N B Q K o oo ep ---- R N B Q K o oo ep
a b c d e f g h ---- a b c d e f g h
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ----- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
etc
This still may require the training wheel chess board with notation on each square. No writing required. Circle the piece ( You could even make the pieces figurine and add a pawn if you wanted to.) For moves that require the to and from square you simply circle those also. If it happens to be the same you circle it twice.
Note: The preceding has not been endorsed, blessed, authorized or sanctioned by the USCF. It may give an unfair speed advantage over players who are using slower systems. TD approval required, in some states at least.
And another system from the Department of Silly Scoring.
- a b c d e f g h
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
a b c d e f g h
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Imagine little circles beneath each that are marked. Or simply X through the letter or number. You are keeping score the old computer fashion. Now when you get home you scan this sheet into a scanner and use an OCR like progam to read the sheet. Then you have a program that converts that to PGN form and you now have an electronic copy with out having to input it.
But will it play in Peoria?
I know this thread is about silly low tech methods, but I have another alternative.
Give the kid a digital camera. After each move he snaps a picture of the board.
Type A dads can then flip thru the pictures after the game and input to fritz etc.