The Build-a-Word Card Game: Better than Go Fish!

A compound word is a long word that is made up of two smaller words—think “bookcase,” for example, or “playground.” Compound words may look hard at first, but things get easier if kids can spot two smaller words that they already know. Want to add a little “holy moly!” to something that can feel "ho hum?" This card game will help you practice making compound words—and have some fun while you’re at it!

What You Need:

• index cards
• pencils, markers, crayons or a combination of writing utensils

What You Do:

Make a set of “word cards.” Give your child the following list of words:

life
time
can
not
cross
walk
moon
light
any
body
mean
back
ground
bath
room
break
fast
day
dream
down
town
up
stairs
some
butter
fly
fire
thing
one
else
where
base
ball
day
up
side
no
air
plane
bed
time

Set it up. Ask your child to write each word on its own index card. Then have her lay the cards in a pile, word down, and shuffle the deck. Each player gets 5 cards. The rest of the pile goes in the middle.

The object of the game: Collect as many compound words as possible, by finding “pairs” of cards that go together to form a word. The player with the most pairs at the end, wins.

How to play. Starting with the youngest player, each player looks at his hand and asks another player for cards. For example, if a player had the word “any” in his hand, he might ask, “Jason, do you have cards that go with “any?” If the other player has any words that can be attached to “any” (for example, “body”, “day”, “where”, or “time”) to make a compound word, he hands them over.