Another attempt:
The squares indicate pan and scale. Reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog.
And I'm considering going back to dead simple:
I know it runs the risk of being too cold and abstract which may not work well with kids, but at least its simple and clear.
Still haven't ruled out doing custom backgrounds for each short:
And this works pretty well in action. I did this then realized that's exactly what tonym suggested. Thanks:
So for the moment its either hand-drawn backgrounds or the grey line.
