Flughörnchengleitübungen / Flying squirrel gliding practice

Last week Jamie and I developed a game routine that hits that sweet spot of being linguistically highly productive as well as engaging for both of us. It involves his current puppet favorite, Franziska, a Folkmanis flying squirrel (Flughörnchen or Gleithörnchen).

We call it Franziska's "gliding practice" (Gleitübungen). Basically we try to think of, describe, then perform interesting ways for her to glide around the house, using various pieces of furniture, tools and techniques to help her gain altitude, negotiate sharp turns, and come in for a soft landing. It works language of physical description, especially motion of objects through space, connected into a long narrative. Here's an example of Franziska describing to Jamie one such routine: 

Ok, Jamie, jetzt denke ich mir 'ne Übung aus. Ich beginne damit, dass ich auf dem Kopf deines Vaters sitze. Ich springe ab und lande dort unten auf der Platte des Hebels. Du haust auf den Hebel drauf, ich schnelle dann in die Höhe und gleite auf das Sprungbrett im Esszimmer zu. Ich federe drauf ab, fliege in die Küche hinein, und greif mir einen Flügel des Deckenventilators. Während dies passiert, nimmst du deinen Badminton-Schläger und stellst dich dort neben den Eingang des Ganges auf. Der Ventilator wirbelt mich herum. Ich lasse los und werde Richtung Gang geschleudert. Ich komme auf dich zugeflogen. Du schlägst mich in den Gang hinein, läufst dann vor mir her, drehst dich um und schlägst mich nach rechts in das Schlafzimmer der Eltern hinein. Dort legen wir ein weiches Kissen auf den Boden, auf dem ich landen kann. 

(Ok, Jamie, now it's my turn to think of one. I'll begin by sitting on your father's head. I'll jump down and land on the lever down there. You wham the lever, I'll go flying up and glide toward the springboard in the dining room. I'll bounce off that, go flying into the kitchen and grab hold of a blade of the ceiling fan. In the meantime, you take the badminton racket and go stand next to the entrance to the hall. The fan spins me around. I let go and go flying toward the hall where you are. You whap me into the corridor, run past me, turn around, then whap me into your parents' room. We'll put a pillow on the floor where I can land).

In the last two days we've done two dozen variations on that theme. We usually talk through each routine twice, once in the planning phase, then once as we perform it in slow motion. Since all the routines are based on different combinations of the same building blocks (levers, springboards, rackets, fans, pieces of furniture, etc.), after just a few modeling examples from me and the squirrel, Jamie was able to think up and verbally string together his own. 

Often something will "go wrong," and Franziska won't end up where she's supposed to. This provides opportunities to have Jamie figure things out and tell Franziska what happened. 

(Update, as of Nov. 3, 2014, J is still requesting this activity).