As our younger readers progress through the first grade, their texts begin to include longer words. Sometimes, these are compound words, words that are made up of smaller words. Because compound words look long, young readers will sometimes shut down. This is what happened with ALuv {currently and the end of 1st grade}.
We’d already worked through breaking apart some two-syllable words and he was doing well with those, but I needed something a little extra to boost his confidence in breaking apart those longer compound words. So I created a few compound word games for him. These were such a big hit for him that I had to share.
*The pictures & free printable in this post have been updated since 2013. Find the free printable at the end of this post by clicking on the teal download button.
{Sorry that some of the images are blurry. My camera isn’t working right now, so I used my phone for a few of these.}
Compound Words Matching Games
The cards are simple, but there are several different games you can play with them, like:
matching up the separate words to the compound word such as lady + bug = ladybug.
I placed all the compound word picture cards so we could see them and we played a matching games with just the words. The goal was to make real words {words that matched the pictures}. At the end of the game, the person with the most pairs was declared the winner.
we came across a few funny ones as we played, which got some good laughs in!
A couple of other compound word games might include:
Matching compound word pictures: water + fall = waterfall. For this game, you flip over 3 cards on your turn.
Matching compound words only. This is more of a challenging game. Again, flip over 3 word cards on your turn, trying to match 2 individual words with the correct compound word. Example: wind + shield = windshield.
The most important part of learning to decode is connecting what kids learn out of context with in context reading. Now when my son gets to one of those long and “scary” words; I gently remind him, “That’s a compound word and you can break it apart into smaller words.”
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~Becky
Anna - the Measured Mom says
Love this, Becky! Beautiful printable!
Ana says
Could I have the free printable? Compound words. Can’t find the download button.
thisreadingmama says
Scroll down. It’s a teal download button that says, “Click here to get your free printable.”
Mary Wilson says
My six year old needs practice on compound words and this is a great resource.
Crystal www.crystalstinytreasures.com says
This looks fun! Downloaded and ready for action in the fall:-)
thisreadingmama says
Awesome! You’re so organized, already thinking about next fall!
Lucy Penfold says
Hi Becky, I love your Compound Word picture game? I was just wondering do you have template that I can use? I would like to do all the compound words into pictures as well and would like to keep it the same. Template to type sight words and print them as well.
Thanks,
Lucy
thisreadingmama says
I could email you a completely blank template via a PowerPoint document, if you’d like.
J. Borque says
Thanks so very much! Great quality!
thisreadingmama says
Thank you! 🙂
Emily Boyett says
Thank you! Its such a great printable!
thisreadingmama says
You’re welcome! 🙂
zarafshan banday says
Hi Becky
I like your compound word game..
Thanks for sharing..
thisreadingmama says
You’re welcome! 🙂
Rebekkah says
Bless you! I’m working with some low-level readers and so need literacy centers they can do!
Patti says
This is amazing, even more during quarantine time and my limited free time and artistic skills 🙂 THANK YOU!!!!
Alyzee says
WOW Thanks a lot for this free printable document! I’m going to use it tomorrow with my kids, they’re going to love it! Thanks for the work cuz it must have taken a long time!