“I Have, Who Has” Shapes Game

I’ve seen these “I Have, Who Has” card games circulating the internet a lot lately, so I decided to make my own version for Pre-K to teach shapes. I used these in my class last week at Small Group, and the kids are still enjoying them in the Math Center at free choice time. I wasn’t sure if they’d like this game or not, but they love it! I added symbols to help the children read the cards. For “I have” there is a picture of an eye, and for “Who has” there is a picture of an owl (since owls say “whoooo”).

To play the game, deal out all of the cards to all of the players in the group. They figure out pretty quickly that it’s best if they lay all the cards out where they can see them. Since this set has so many cards, it works best with a group of about 5 kids or more (and I gave some cards to myself so I could play along with them). The first player chooses any card and reads it. For example, “I have a red square. Who has a green triangle?” That child places that card in the basket, and everyone looks at their cards to see if they have a green triangle. The person who does then says, “I have a green triangle. Who has a yellow rectangle?” That child places that card in the basket, and so on. Play continues until all of the cards are in the basket.

Since I have some children who are still struggling with shapes, especially rectangle, I used this to help reinforce shapes, and I added diamond (rhombus) and oval to the four basic shapes to make it more interesting for those kids who already know shapes. As we played, there were some children who came across a shape they didn’t know, and when that happened, I said the name of the shape, and they repeated the name of the shape as they read the card, “Who has …”. So, there was constant reinforcement of shapes they needed to learn, and it worked! I noticed after several repetitions of the same shape, children did not need to ask me when they came across it again.

Just a funny side story: At one point with one of my groups, the kids were asking me to help them identify a shape, but they didn’t want the other kids to see the card they had. They decided to nab the card and hide under the table so the other kids couldn’t see, then call up to me, “What shape do I have?” When I said, “I can’t see your card,” the children would hold the card just above the table so I could see (without realizing everyone else could see). Such silliness.

To download the game, click the image or link:

“I Have, Who Has” Shapes Game