Compound words

Ages 6 to 8 Read together, then try alone · about 15 minutes

Read together

Two small words can join to make a new word. Sun and flower make sunflower.

Rain and bow make rainbow. Can you find more?

Do it

1. Write ten small words on cards, such as sun, flower, rain, bow, door, bell, fire, fly.
2. Match two cards to make a real word. Say it and use it in a sentence.
3. Try silly ones too, such as door-fly, and decide if they are real.
4. Draw one compound word as a picture of both parts.

Talk about it

• Which two words made this one?
• Does the new word mean both parts?

For the grown-up

Compound words are common in English, Spanish and Filipino, though each language builds them differently. Splitting a long word into parts is a good reading skill.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• National Reading Panel, Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000)
• Nagy, W. E., and Anderson, R. C., “How Many Words Are There in Printed School English?”, Reading Research Quarterly 19 (1984): 304 to 330

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.