Dreams about activities and environments associated with childhood can be either motivating or discouraging, depending on the details of your dream and how you felt. For example, if you had a happy time playing with your dolls or a toy train set, your dream may simply be reminding you of the simple pleasure of letting your guard down from time to time to do nothing useful but play and relax. These kinds of dreams are particularly common if you have been extremely busy recently and haven’t had time to have fun. If, however, you were bored by the toy or activity in your dream, your unconscious may be urging you to put away childish things that don’t really give you stimulation and satisfaction, and to spend your time more productively.
Toys in dreams not only reflect your desire for more play, or urge you to grow up in some way, they can also suggest nostalgia for childhood that has been lost. Dolls are especially important because they so resemble the human form, and because children endow them with emotions and characters. Your dreaming mind may therefore use a doll to symbolize something or someone in your life. For example, if you stick needles or pins in the doll, or mistreat it in any way, this can represent negative feelings towards a particular person. Many doll dreams use the doll as a target for violence and, if this is the case, it could also refer to how the dreamer felt as a child when smacked emotionally or physically—like a helpless child. Dolls can also represent emotions that the dreamer would like to discharge on someone else, or the feeling of wanting to be a precious doll to someone. It may also express some undeveloped part of the dreamer’s personality and the need to relearn some childhood lessons we may have forgotten.
If you dreamed that you were in a playground surrounded by other children, were you enjoying yourself or did you feel left out? If you felt exhilarated, your unconscious may once again be signaling your need to have more fun in waking life, but if you felt aloof or alone from the other children, it could suggest that you prefer to play no part in the immature behaviour currently displayed by a group of people in your waking life.
See Also: references to toys, games in LEISURE.
[1]