You might remember the meaning of the character 熊 with this easy mnemonic:
I have a private (厶) zoo with a pet bear. He howls at the moon (月) every night, insists on eating from a spoon (匕) and needs to sleep beside a kindling (灬) fiire.
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.