It would be fun to have the characters integrate with the node images, as if you are dropping them into little worlds. E.g. when you move a rabbit to the boat node, the boat now has a little rabbit poking out of it. It would be similar to those combined emojis [0]

I recognize that this is a really bad idea from a usability/discoverability perspective, but wouldn't it be charming!

[0] https://emojikitchen.dev/