Compound words are formed by combining two Anglo-Saxon base words.

Numerous activities can be designed around compound words.

Teachers can:

• Ask students to generate compound words,
• Have students give the 1st or 2nd base word,
• Categorize the compound words into categories such as people, animals, objects, games, vehicles, buildings, abstract concepts and weather.
• Ask students to add compound words to the following list of common compound
  words:

lunchbox, bookbag, checkbook, backpack

bluebird, starfish, stepson, stepdaughter

blackbird, shoelace, snowball, tablecloth

washcloth, housecoat, floorboard, baseball

football, basketball, tetherball, sailboat

motorboat, steamship, shipwreck, airplane

spacecraft, showtime, seasick, homesick

sunrise, sunset, starlight, moonlight

rainstorm, earthquake, snowboard, flashlight

railroad, lamppost, chalkboard, blackboard

schoolgirl, schoolboy, grandfather, grandmother

stagehand, bookworm, housework, dogcatcher

bodyguard, shellfish, sleepwalk, sleighride

horseback, smokestack, hilltop, butterfly

hairbrush, eyeball, filmstrip, turtleneck

slipcover, spotlight, wristwatch, payoff

sunshine, witchcraft, blueberry, paperwork