Song Method: in a bag, hat, or some other container, have slips of paper with well-known songs written on them. Each person draws a song (and makes sure they "know it, but not the words." When you say, each person is to start humming their song as loudly as they can while milling about the room, attempting to find others humming the same song. When two people meet who are humming the same song, stand still and continue humming until all have found their group. You may use this method to create groups of any size by simply adjusting how many songs you have and how many of each song are included. Good songs to use: National Anthem, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat, When the Saints go Marching in, and various Christmas songs (Rudolph, Frosty, etc.).
Missing Piece Method: in a bag, hat, or some other container, have things that have been torn in half (for pairs, more if you want groups of 3 or 4 or etc.). Some things you can use: leaves, index cards, playing cards, old worksheets or quizzes, etc. The task is for each person to find the person (or persons) who has their missing piece (or pieces). It helps if you read from Shel Silverstein's book during this activity.
Marco-Polo Method: in a bag, hat, or some other container, have slips of paper with various words on them. The words need only have the following requirement: they must make a complete word or phrase when put together. Example "peanut" would match with "butter" and "fire" would match with "place". Be careful not to have words that can match with more than the intended word. Have each student draw out a piece of paper, making sure not to show it to anyone else. On your count, each person is to start calling out the word on his or her slip of paper. They are to keep calling (loudly!) until they find their partner with the word that matches. When partners are found, they may stop calling. Other examples for this activity: "Birthday -- Cake", "Floppy -- Disk", "Book -- Mark", "Brick -- Wall", etc.
