The Panda Queen & the River Otter

Traveling is a time when I am often reaching into my improv bag of tricks ~ especially in just reminding myself to keep an improv mindset (meaning among other things to find things to say "yes" to, be flexible and be open to opportunities).

Our visit with family was so exciting for LP (she was on overdrive trying to keep up with her older cousins) so I used familiar storytelling structures as part of calming down and grounding and reflecting on things that were happening. When she was homesick, we told stories about home and what ImprovDad and all her beloved stuffed friends were doing.

One series of stories emerged about LP as the "Panda Queen" and her group of pandas. LP has 3 pandas at home (1 made the trip with us) and quickly gathered up a few pandas from a willing older cousin (thanks H!) while we were away. We told stories about the Panda Queen and both groups of pandas and LP has embraced her new royal title.

On a cold, drizzly day, my sister, brother-in-law and I ventured to the zoo with the 4 youngest kids. I think we had the place to ourselves except for one other family. The rest of our group roamed the zoo while LP and I went at her pace and she enjoyed lots of puddle splashing. I was feeling tired and down from having a cold and was counting the minutes until we could get back in the car out of the rain.

Then we discovered the river otter.

LP has been into otters since we read "Sea Elf" for the first time a few months ago. She loves to wear a green & blue blanket as her kelp and often has us tie it on her first thing in the morning. (It is a beautiful book about a girl imagining herself as an otter for a day.) And here, unexpectedly was an otter...and a very playful otter who seemed as excited to see LP as she was to see it. The otter would jump into the water and come right up to the glass where LP was, then dart away and return...again, again and again.

It was a beautiful thing to witness. Her enjoyment was so pure and full body. She laughed at times and was just entranced at other times. It lifted my spirits to be there with her.

To top it off...there was a carousel and the Panda Queen got to ride a panda...twice!

This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

Traveling Heavy

is not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm getting LP and myself ready to hit the road to visit family on the East Coast and getting in my usual pre-flight anxiety twist-up. Part of me gets focused on "oh I'm bringing too much stuff" and then worried that I'm not bringing the right stuff. And so on and so on and so on.

I was thinking that I had traveled light pre-LP but that isn't true. I don't like to fly so I always brought as many distractions (books, crossword puzzles, knitting, writing, music) as possible.

Then I realized how to let go of the anxiety...traveling with all this stuff is for comfort. As much as LP needs her best buds, Lambda & BunBun, to come along, I need to know that I'm prepared for...well, for almost anything.

It reminded me of being a new improvisor and wanting to have a set list for a show. I wanted to know what games we would play (or at least might play) and to have reviewed the rules and so on. Then I got restless with so much "knowing" and wanting more challenge. So I started doing shows without set lists...and then I started doing longform improv. This longform creating of up to 2 hour shows on the spot still feels delicious and exciting. In Un-Scripted we usually have a frame we've agreed upon (a genre, like Shakespeare or Romantic Comedy) and we rehearse to come to agreement about what that genre means but then....in the show it is so open and free to discover all the things can happen. I went from needing the illusion of being prepared to anything to feeling prepared to improvise.

It reminded me of being a new parent and anxiously reading and seeking advice (or accepting advice thrust upon us!). And then (finally) came a point of balance of finding the place that brought together useful information (like what is developmentally appropriate) with being in the moment of being a parent and figuring out what works for our family. I went from needing to find the "right" way to needing to find our way.

So I'm traveling heavy today....although a little lighter than in the past. The first time I took a plane trip with LP I brought 20+diapers, today I only have 8.

Opera Tooth Brushing

I have a Mary Poppins-ish approach to parenting things. The bottom line is that there are non-negotiable things that a little person has to deal with AND I like to make it playful whenever possible. So in the spirit of a "spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down" we are now having grand opera tooth brushing every night.

We've been through a few phases of toothbrushing. Animal faces worked for awhile recently (lion roar to get the back teeth, zebra smile for the front). Then we had a few weeks of struggle (you know, the two parent tooth brushing, where one of us is holding squirming child) until opera entered the routine.

So now after an opportunity to mess around with the toothbrush on her own for a bit, LP and I do a brief warm up (mi, mi, mi,mi, miiiiii) and then big, grand voice soaring "AaaaaaaaaHs" together while I simultaneously get a good brushing of the chompers done.

It is fun and evolving. A couple of nights ago, she initiated going up the scale with each "aaaah" and the following night we stumbled into some fun harmonies.

I'll enjoy it while it lasts....and who knows what "sugar" will come next.

Prepare the way for "Yes"

Many of my blog posts return to the idea of saying yes, finding ways to say yes, and seeking "yes" experiences.

It is a core principle of improvisation...as improv guru Keith Johnstone says (and I paraphrase here): "Saying 'no' keeps you safe, saying 'yes' leads to adventure." Another way of putting it is that "no" keeps us in the realm of the familiar and prevents (or at least attempts to prevent) change, while "yes" invites change into the picture.

There are lots of valid reasons for big people to say no. There are safety reasons, ethical reasons, and personal value reasons. There are emotional reasons...and a subset of those is the all important group of saving one's own sanity reasons.

And there are lots of little people reasons to say "no." Because they are tired or hungry or frustrated or desiring to do it themselves or wanting to express something that is too big for the words they know....or because they are 2 or 3 (or older!) and learning the power and control of "no" it is part of that stage of development.

So as much as our little folk need to learn to use "no," we can also make sure to give them opportunities to say "yes" -- even when they are firmly grounded in the practice of "no."

Some foundations for "yes" success include...

• saying "yes" (literally). I try to remember to actually say "yes" and not always just nod or do something without acknowledging the "yes."
  

• saying "yes" with actions. When LP invites me for the 8th time to come play tinkertoys and I agree, I try to get into the game and really play...even if it is only for 5 minutes.
  

• making sure physical needs (food, water, potty, diaper change, etc) are taken care of (really hard to say "yes" when you are physically uncomfortable)

• using all the observations you have about what makes your little person (or people) tick. I realized that LP is quite willing to eat veggies while I'm chopping them and cooking and not as willing when they show up on her plate. So by I give her lots of opportunities for her to say "yes" to my desire for her to eat vegetables by saying "yes" to the eating moment that works for her.

• clear requests....while it doesn't always work, sometimes just letting LP know what I need in a straightforward way leads to a "yes."

• AND multiple opportunities. I know LP sometimes says "no" to something she really wants. I give her a little space and make the offer again. And sometimes again after that.
  

As you might imagine...a post like this can only be written in the midst of a lot of "no, no, no."


This post is part of the Moms' 30 minute blog challenge over at SteadyMom.

Tell Me a Story: Using Touch

There are many different ways to incorporate the sense of touch into storytelling and story-acting.

I focused on touch as a starting point when I was working with seniors with dementia. I always had a bag of scarves to serve as props and often brought in other objects (often natural objects that were out of reach for folks living in a facility like seashells or pine cones). Of course all of these objects activate other senses too, but it was important to me to have things they could touch as well as see.

One moment will always stand out to me. A woman that enjoyed our talk sessions but really was not into our acting sessions got swept up into a group-created story about three sisters getting ready to go to a dance. When she agreed to be one of the sisters, I asked her "what color dress will you wear?" She replied, "Blue" and her eyes lit up with delight when I pulled a light blue scarf from my bag . "Yes, that's the color!" she said. She and I draped it over her and throughout the rest of the session, I saw her stroke the scarf while she participated with gusto. I believe it was that moment where her senses got united with her imagination that freed her to enjoy stepping into the group's story.

So here are a few ideas to get started:

1) Choose an object (or objects) to bring into playing with your little person and see how it evolves into a story. With a seashell, you can talk about its colors and textures, listen for the ocean and tell/act a story of the shell' s journey in the ocean. Or imagine what it is like to live inside a shell and act that out.

2) Choose a tactile way to expand a written story that your little person enjoys. An example is having a set of keys to use while reading "Goodnight Gorilla." Scarves or playsilks are always wonderful to become the sea or the sky or other elements of a story.

3) Start with the tactile experience of the here and now. If you and your little person are barefoot in the grass, explore that feeling and let it grow into whatever comes next...maybe being a piece of grass growing. Or telling a story about the toes in the grass that met an ant. Or the toes in the grass that met other toes and took them to meet the brick path by the grass.

That's just the beginning....what ideas do you use with your little ones?

Singing to Potatoes by Candlelight

Tonight during dinner, I mentioned how I thought our potatoes probably wouldn't come up. The day after LP and I planted them, we had a week of torrential rain which just seems like too much water. I also fessed up that I don't really know what the growing potatoes would look like and thought I might "weed" them by accident.

LP had a plan (she almost always has a plan these days). She wanted to go out to the garden with a candle and sing to the plants.

A little dialogue brought ImprovDad and I up to speed...and we made the connection to the Frog & Toad story where Toad is worried that he scared his seeds by yelling at them to grow so he plays violin to them and reads them stories.

It would've been easy to talk about it, to story it and to maybe even play act it. LP was suggesting it but not strongly, not insisting on it. AND it was such a perfect moment to surprise LP (and ourselves) by saying "yes!" The dinner clean up could wait, so could the bath. So could every other distraction of the moment.

So after dinner, out out to the back yard we went. I held a candle and LP rode on ImprovDad's shoulders. We stood in front of our wee potato patch and made up a song "Grow potatoes, grow." There was a half moon shining through a partly cloudy sky and a few stars peeking through.

And best of all was the smile on LP's face.

This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom. Go on, click over and check out all the links.

Cloud Parenting

Sometimes I get stuck in my own story.

We all do. Probably more often than is comfortable to admit. I find that I've become closed to alternative ways of seeing or understanding. There are many paradigms out there to understand this process....and all of them (in my mind) boil down to this...there is more to the story.

"More" can be a different perspective. "More" can be details that have gone unnoticed. "More" can be allowing new feelings to color and tint OR letting old feelings stop coloring experience. "More" can mean so many things.

One of the glorious things about improv stories is that they are of the moment. The more experienced an improv storyteller becomes, the more at ease one becomes with exploring new paths, letting go of assumptions and experiencing new story realities...essentially ready to watch the clouds of the story change. Was that a rabbit in the sky....or a mushroom growing near a top hat? Or was it a rabbit disappearing into a discarded magician's hat?

Last week, in the midst of a bunch of rainy days, we had a burst of blue sky. After a lunch picnic, LP and I lay on a blanket and watched the clouds move in the sky. And as I watched those clouds change, I thought about how much LP is changing every day. I tried to soften my gaze on her and see the things that I don't usually see. It is easy to focus on the parts of LP that delight me and the things that are challenging. So easy to focus on the first image, on my first ideas and assumptions about what it means that she loves to make bouquets out of any material she can find in nature. Or what it means that she prefers the color red. Or loves dinosaurs.

And focusing on those details can leave so much out of the story of who she is today...and tomorrow. Noticing the details is wonderful. So is noticing when the details are limiting my ability to really see her in any given moment.

It is a challenge to give up our solid sense of story, of this is how you are and who you are. Yet when we can do this, when we can see each other as changing beings, we can not only better support growth but enjoy all the potentials you can see.

I hope that I can remember to watch LP with that soft, cloud-watching vision sometimes and to also help her build her ability to see the world in alternative ways.


This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge over at SteadyMom.

Tell Me a Story: Meandering Along

One of the traps that I fall into in my storytelling is trying to make it all a neat package with a cohesive beginning, middle and end. Yet if I pay attention to LP during storytelling I find she is much more open-minded about where a story goes. It can be a reflection of (or my best guess) of some of her experience in the world. (Sometimes I think my storytelling job is to help build cohesiveness and other times I think it is simply to reflect.)

So today's storytelling challenge is to let yourself meander like your kiddo.

See something shiny in your story...go over there and describe it, explore it, find out what it likes to eat for dinner and oh, wait...look over there! It's a worm in a puddle swimming home. Follow the worm as she wiggle-swims along and then....Hey! Look over there! The worm found an apple to eat and there's an apple tree with a bird's nest in it and the nest has three eggs, one blue, one green and one red. The eggs are starting to hatch and out comes a dinosaur, a turtle and a bird. A little girl named LP climbs the tree and look sin the nest and then.....

well and then, see what happens next and next and next.

Return to Play

Things haven't been feeling so playful lately at casa de Improv-a-mama. LP's sleep is a mess and therefore so am I. I know it is a phase (most likely brought on by the combination of being almost three + starting to use the potty + transitioning to a big girl bed) but still, I've been feeling off my game in all areas of my life.

So I've been trying to remind myself to find some improv structures to add play into our day when it isn't coming from me in any kind of organic way and when I find myself saying a lot of "no" and wanting to sneak away to read or websurf the second LP's attention is on anything else. I find the structure so helpful AND it takes a lot of pressure off needing to be creative. So the main structure is find something (anything) to say "yes" to and then play with it.

Today play also served some other aims as well.

On our rainy walk, a beanbag purple cow (named "July the Space Heater"...after the cat at preschool and her favorite object) became the vehicle for play. I would place July in a bush and then start looking around calling "July....LP, where's July?" And LP would trot over and find her with joy. July got in trees and fences and behind trashcans and then got to try out a tire swing. And (here's the bonus), LP walked so much more than usual. She's been wanting to be carried everywhere and I so want her to walk more without me becoming a nag about it. Hurray for July the Space Heater and walking Hide and Seek! (And hopefully the extra exercise will help on the sleep front)

Then at lunch, LP was asking and asking and asking for "parfaits" (a la Fancy Nancy of the book of the same name). We save ice cream for a special dessert for Shabbat evenings so I said no but offered to make almonds into French "almondine" by slicing them. She was totally into them and enjoyed asking for another almondine (I sliced them one at a time at the table). Bonus was getting the extra healthy food in her.

Even finding these little bits of play in our daily routine lightens the mothering load that lack of sleep was making feel quite heavy. Remembering that simple "yes" and then just letting an activity grow from that almost always leads to new discoveries for us.

This post is part of the Moms' 30 minute blog challenge over at SteadyMom...go on, check out what other moms are blogging about.

Tell Me A Story: Poetry

My fallback storytelling is to start with what is in front of me. I use details from what I'm looking at or something we did that morning or some concrete event and tell stories from there.

And I've realized that is quite useful, it also can be limiting when I only rely on those techniques.

And I've also realized that LP has NO PRECONCEPTIONS about poetry and all the delightful things that make something poetic (simile, metaphor, imagery and so on). So all the fear voices in my head that criticize my poetic efforts are now dismissed.

So recently I'm reminding myself to play with those things and tell a story about the trees talking with the stars in the sky and a cloud's adventure floating overhead and to imagine eating ice cream is like eating a snowdrift.

This also evolved into a game yesterday when LP was cuddled up in my lap after we spent a good bit of time attempting to plant potatoes (various mishaps occurred, it is quite possible they won't come up). I blew on her and said "Mama is the wind and LP is the tree with lots of leaves" and she giggled. After a few times she started to rock against me and I said "LP is the ocean crashing into Mama as the beach." And she said "crash, crash" getting more intentional in her movements. After a minute or so, she cuddled in again and said "I'm a bird" and when I said "and I am a nest" she said, "Where's mama bird?" So I became that instead.

It was sweet and playful and seemed to fill her up more than a cuddle on its own. (This is pretty crucial these days when I am so hungry for her to play more independently).

A Stroller Adventure

This blog post is part of this week's Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge over at Steady Mom.

Last Monday was our first day of childcare swap. Our little bud Z came over to our house for a few hours after preschool.

It is about a half hour walk from preschool to our house. So I had LP and Z in a double stroller (which is surprisingly more heavy than the weight of the two kids plus the weight of the stroller). About two minutes into the walk, it started to rain. And Z didn't like the snacks I brought. And LP & I aren't wearing raincoats (at least Z is). And it starts to rain harder. And harder.

The kids were actually pretty relaxed about the cold rain coming down but I was not a happy camper and we still had a good 20 minutes of walking to go.

And so a game was born.

I started with an open question about what they could see from the stroller. That didn't inspire anything, so then I asked Z if he saw anything in the large bush up ahead.

"Lions! I see Lions"

What a delicious offer to all of our imaginations! So we spent a few blocks looking for lions and even occasionally roaring at them. Sometimes I'd ask one of the kids to describe something or point a lion out to me and sometimes Z would spontaneously point one out. This evolved into being in the jungle as we went down a block with lots of greenery reaching over the sidewalk.

It made a challenging walk home fun and certainly took my attention away from the rain and all the other things going on in my head (wondering if Z was going to be happy playing at our house, my self-criticisms of not having LP & I in raincoats and so on and so on).

This is a great "quickie" improv activity.

First, make an open-ended offer to your kiddo's imagination (like asking "what's in that bush?" or "who's hiding under that leaf?"). You can play with the scope of the question (in my story above, my more general question of "what do you see" didn't get any response from the kids but focusing on the bush inspired Z's imagination.

They will either 1) ignore you because something else is cooking up in their minds already, 2) ask the same question back to you or 3) give you an answer that opens a door to more.

Then build on it. Which can be really simple. See the lion they see and then be excited to see the lion they see. Find out what the lion is doing in the bush or move on to another bush and see if there's a whole jungle of animals on your street.

One of the wonderful things about an activity like this is that it doesn't have a specific beginning, middle and end. So you can stop and start as their (and your) interest dictates and those lions will be waiting for you to rediscover another day.

5 Ways Improv is Good for Families

This post is part of the Moms' 30 Minute Blog Challenge.... I love this challenge, it reminds me of some of the best improv games because the "hoop" to jump through to succeed (i.e. write, edit and post a blog entry in 30 minutes) is also an invitation for a different kind of creativity than when there isn't that "hoop."

This is a blog post I've been toodle-ing around in my mind for months but I keep thinking I need to get the idea and wording "just right" so I haven't written it at all. Nothing. Nada. Til now...deep breath...here goes:

Improv is good for families...I knew going into creating our family that improv has been good for me as an individual (helping me with my overwhelming shyness, opening new doors to my creativity and ability to create with others, opening my eyes to new careers and more) and as a partner (ImprovDad and I met in an improv class and have used improv to help us through some rocky moments in our relationship). So it made sense to me that improv would be good for us in our parent-child relationships and as the 3 of us became a family.

Two nights ago, I had my "a-ha! This is it!" moment.

Dinner has been pretty challenging recently...we're trying to both include LP in conversations and also teach her some basic non-interrupting manners (which disrupts any flow of conversation). In the midst of some fussing about something, LP looked at me and said "gorilla." So I repeated "gorilla" and pounded my chest with my fists 5 times while making a funny noise. She looked at ImprovDad and said "gorilla." He did the same. She went back and forth between us a number of times and then ImprovDad said, "LP...gorilla" and she did it and laughed (so did we). It was joyful to find this playful interaction where we were equal participants. AND (as a bonus), it satisfied something for LP, so we were able to finish dinner in a much more relaxed and pleasant way.

Here's my 5 improv-family takeaways...Improv is good for families because the practice of improv:

1. Enhances appreciation of each family member's creativity and uniqueness.
2. Builds ensemble-- in this case, a sense of being a family ---by creating together.
3. Combats materialism -- all we need is ourselves and a willingness to share our imaginations. We can create any environment, scenario or situation using what we've got right now.
4. Creates optimism -- the heart of improv practice is saying "yes" to each other which makes the world a more positive place AND we experience how "yes" makes things possible.
5. Provides experiences where children & parents can play as equals.
   

Stories that Travel

LP and I are newly back from a trip to the East Coast to visit a bevy of family. A really good time AND disorienting for LP in all the ways that you'd expect for a 2.5 year old away from Improvdad and home and routine.

Now I thought that making up stories together would fill hours of plane time but she was having none of it. She has figured out that plane trips are about all the mysterious snacks & toys in the huge backpack...an improv story is a good time but alas, cannot be wrapped up in tissue paper like a present. (Although one can give each other pretend presents but that's a game for slightly older kids...and a different post).

The time & place for improv stories was when LP needed comfort, when she was feeling overwhelmed and tired and missing home. AND the stories she desired were about familiar characters in familiar places doing ordinary things.

LP has a group of characters she likes to hear stories about. We often also sing songs about them too. I cannot remember the evolution of them but they are here to stay. So I introduce you to....the Guy and the Fly and the Noisy Cow. Since they are old favorites, I started to tell her a story about the three of them going to the backyard to play.

At the end of the story, she asked for another. I followed an impulse and asked her "same story or different story?" LP replied "same story!" and I told her the same little tale about the Guy and the Fly and the Noisy Cow playing in the backyard at least 4 times. Then the same repetition of story about the Guy and the Fly trying to wake up the Noisy Cow from a nap.

I love it when I am surprised by what stories can give us...in this case, the stories were a security blanket, a reminder of home and a way to connect and get grounded again.

Tell Me a Story: Getting Started

Some folks are more comfortable than others spinning stories. It seems like I often hear or read about parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents/nannies/etc who tell fantastic, episodic stories.

Kind of intimidating for the rest of us.

So start simple. There's no pressure for a made-up story to be a certain way or even "good." What is "good" in relation to stories anyway? If you and your little person enjoy the experience, then it is good.

Start with something small that really happened.

"Once upon a time, LP was waiting for the bus with her mama. It was a hot day and they waited and waited and waited."

Then make an offer that can trigger your (and their) imagination. Words like "suddenly" and phrases like "all of a sudden" can be magic in inspiring what comes next.

"Suddenly a giant bumblebee flew over to them and offered them a ride."

If you get stuck for plot, move to description and color the story.

"The giant bumblebee has 3 black stripes and 3 yellow stripes. It was very fuzzy and was wearing a bright, pink scarf. "

You can alternate between "suddenly" moments to move the action of the story forward and descriptive moments until you're ready to wrap the story up.

LP & her mama climbed on the giant bumblebee's back and flew home. They invited the bumblebee in for a snack. They all had tea and and graham crackers with honey.

Some stories will be of the moment and then are gone. Others will capture your little person's imagination and then you have the foundation for episodic stories. (A post on that topic coming soon!)

The One Activity Improv Challenge

I've been in a rut. I like to think of myself as "mama-who-embraces-messy-play" and philosophically, oh yes, I do! And....the reality of messy play is sometimes not something I want to deal with (i.e. clean up after). I've noticed that over the past month or so, I haven't been as open-to, generative or creative about finding the fun mess.

LP is oriented to tactile experiences. She's the kid painting her arms and legs and sometimes hair who can engage with clay for an hour and who is so happy when there is glue involved because she delights in that texture. She's the kid taking a mud bath and rolling in the sand. It makes us a good match...I love the idea of messy play and she's all over the reality of it.

SO here's the improv challenge for me...how can I say a bigger YES to messy play?

Over this week, I'm going to look for opportunities...maybe it will be about incorporating new materials or about finding a way to go for it even more in the getting messy. Maybe it will be about me getting more into the materials simultaneously (I have to confess I often use messy play time as a little "me-time" because LP gets so engrossed in it). I'll be finding out and after I've cleaned up, I'll post about what I learned.

AND here's the improv challenge for you: take an activity you enjoy doing with your little person and see if you can say YES to it in a new way. The activity can be art, playing ball, gardening, reading, racing toy cars...anything at all. Experiment with different ways to offer more engagement with something you both like to do.


This morning I got the ball rolling with an art project...it started with glue and paint and evolved with more paint, cornstarch and some bits of nature from the back yard:

The Stegasaurus Plant

Often LP's actions remind me how easy it can be to say "yes" to imagination. Or perhaps better said is how easy it can be to "trigger your partner's imagination" (as one of my all-time favorite improv teachers, Patti Stiles, would say)

On a very sloooooow walk home from the bus, LP stopped to inspect a plant, observing it was "spiky" and "spiny." I offhandedly said it reminded me of a stegosaurus...and boy howdy, she took that idea of plants being dinosaurs and took off with it!


Pointing to one plant after another...that one is a tyrannosaurus rex:



That one is a brontosaurus:

That one is a triceratops:


That one is a anklylosaurus...

What a pleasure it was to see her face light up and energy soar as she played with the idea of plants as dinosaurs.

Bringing it back again is the name of the game

Reincorporation is one of those apparently simple ideas that packs a lot of power.

As an improv performer, I've seen the incredible impact it can have on an audience to bring back an idea or story element. As an audience member, I've been immensely satisfied when a performer weaves something from earlier back into the action -- even if I had forgotten it, I recognize it and find it deeply satisfying.

And who loves repetition? Little people. So who lights up at reincorporation? Yup, that's them again.

The challenge for me is often remembering something to reincorporate. Here's a couple of tricks I use when doing storytelling and pretend play with LP:

• Repeat the element a couple of times immediately...this can be repeating a word or phrase or using an object a few times so it will stick in your mind.

• Notice a connection between an idea or story element and a physical object so that physical object will jog your memory.
  

An example of both of these in action: LP had a long, involved story going with leaves in a nest (my hands) which involved a lot of repetition (putting the leaves in the nest, having the nest sing them a lullaby, feeding the leaves, counting the leaves in the nest, etc). A few days later, we were taking a walk to deliver a book to a friend and she stopped to pick leaves and did not want to budge. I walked a bit ahead and held my hands out like a nest saying "here's the nest..." LP's face lit up and she scooted over and we walked along with her new leaves in the nest of my hands, picking up the game right away.