Shoes in the Middle

Instructions

Everyone removes one shoe and places it in the center of the circle. Each person picks up someone else's shoe and tells a short story about where that shoe might have been — the life it has lived. Then the real owner can add or correct. Debrief: what did you project onto the shoe that said something about you?

Best used when

When you want to build empathy and connection without it feeling like a therapy exercise.

Variation

Students write the story instead of telling it — then the owner reads it.