I Have Who Has Games for Math

Several years ago when I found these I Have Who Has Cards on Mathwire.com, I definitely wanted to try them in my classes. I have used the multiplication facts, Algebra Variable Expressions and Geometry decks. This is a photo of some cards from the multiplication facts deck from Mathwire.com.

Each student has one or more cards on their desk and the teacher keeps any card to start the game. Begin by reading the clue on the starting card "Who has 3 x 8?" The student with the answer "I have 24" reads the answer and also the new clue below it. The game is over when you have run through all the cards and on the last card a student reads the last clue "Who has 8 x 6" and the teacher, still holding the first card, reads the answer "I have 48."

The students enjoy this game and are very engaged because they really have to listen and concentrate as each card is read, especially the students who have 2 or more cards to keep track of. I like to time the class with a stopwatch to see how fast they can run through a deck of cards and I make it a competition between my classes or try to improve the class time on subsequent days.

Last year I decided to assign a creative end of the year project to the students after I read this post from I Hope This Old Train Breaks Down and several students chose to make their own I Have Who Has deck of cards for their project. I really enjoyed watching these students figure out how to make the cards so they would work out correctly and then choose the information they wanted to put on each card. Their presentation to the class was having the class play the game they made!

Here is a link to some more I Have Who Has Cards on Mathnstuff.com which include: signed numbers, geometry (area & percent), calculus and directions for making your own cards or having students make a set for the class. The book pictured below has 38 games for 5th and 6th grades including: decimals, fractions, percents, data analysis, probability, square roots, exponents, etc., which would all be great review topics for 7th and 8th grade math classes. The book also contains directions for playing the game in different ways. For example the deck Extreme Mental Math has a maze worksheet for each student to complete during the game. "As your classmates identify the answers, draw a line to each number to complete the maze."

Has anyone else used these games in middle school math classes? What decks have worked well for you and what strategies have you used to make it an effective learning activity?

I have created a template for students to use to make their own set of I Have, Who Has? cards. Students really enjoyed making their own cards and then running the game themselves.