EXPLORING CHILDREN’S IDEAS ABOUT DREAMS AND IMAGINATION

Back to Page Authors: Adrian Medina Liberty

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Keywords: Children's Ideas, Dreams, Imagination, Mind

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Abstract: Children’s dreams have been of increasing interest, especially after the works conducted by Piaget (1962) and Foulkes during the 60’s and 70’s. However, there is not much information about the ideas of children themselves about dreams, imagination among other cognitive processes not directly observable. We conducted free in-depth interviews with eight middle class children (4 to 8 years old) about topics such as what dreams, imagination and mind are, where they come from, can dreams or imagination be seen, can other people see your dreams, et cetera. Results show that children 7 to 8 years old report twice as many dreams as younger children, and their own role in dreams becomes more active. Members of their family acting in familiar ways appear in dreams that have more of a story line. Dreams of 4 to 6-year-old children seem to be slices of life not yet fully elaborated. Talking about their dreams or imagination can help children distinguish their inner experiences and feelings from objective reality.

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