This icebreaker is great for early meetings of a class or other group getting to know each other. It helps people start talking to each other and find unexpected commonalities.

In small groups, you will have five minutes to find five things that everyone in your group has in common. Your goal is to find commonalities among your group that are unique, things that aren’t true about the other groups here. You will have to investigate and be creative. Ask questions. Take notes on what you discover.

(If you want to make it a competition.) After five minutes, bring the groups back together and ask each group to read off their list. If any other team generates the same idea then it must be crossed of the list. Any idea that was not included on another team’s list results in a point for the team. The team with the most points after all the reading of the lists is declared the winner.

Or just come back together and share interesting things you learned about people in your group.

Debrief:

• What was this activity like for you?
• What can we learn from this activity?

from Moving Beyond Icebreakers, by Stanley Pollack and Mary Fusoni