Compound Word Puzzles

If there’s one thing that always intrigues my students, it’s puzzles. They love searching until they find the “just-right” piece and then watching the big picture come together.  That’s why I love to incorporate puzzles into our learning stations as often as possible. And these compound word puzzles are an easy way to bring some fun learning to your literacy centers!

Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

Getting Ready

Prepping these puzzles was quick and easy.

I wanted the cards to be sturdy since I knew the kids would be manipulating them quite a bit, so I began by printing each of the ten puzzles on cardstock.

Then, I laminated them to ensure the pieces and the lamination would line up when the puzzles were being put together.

I cut the puzzles apart to make 10 compound word top puzzle pieces and 20 smaller word bottom pieces.

We were ready to play!

Compound Word Puzzles

To start, I placed only 10 of the smaller puzzle parts on the table.

I wanted my group to figure out which word parts went together to form a compound word, without seeing the compound words yet.

The students worked in pairs to combine the smaller parts to form an entire compound word.

Once they thought they had a match, they placed these puzzle pieces side by side.

Then, I brought out the compound word puzzle top pieces and had students complete their puzzle.

You could hear the students sounding out, “star….fish…..starfish!” The visual of the three puzzle pieces together helped emphasize the elements of a compound word.

Differentiation

For readers still struggling to master the concept, I chose to only give out five word sets at a time. Then, I added more once they had mastered the skill.

I wanted a real challenge for my strongest readers, so I created an additional set of 10 compound word puzzles that have picture cues only for the compound word.

To complete this advanced version, my high readers looked for the correct word parts to form compound words, without using any visual clues.

Once the students had picked the two words they believed made the compound word, they were ecstatic to add the top piece and visually confirm that they were correct.

The ability to differentiate instruction with my students was a great way to use these puzzles again and again until the entire class grasped the concept of compound words.

Grab the fun freebie below!  Then, for more word fun, snag our Editable Word Work Games in our shop!

Grab Your Download

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.