Dreams & Nightmares
We all have dreams and nightmares, but they remain mysterious to most of us: Where do they come from? Why do we have them? How do they make us feel? How do we cope with the bad ones? In this episode, three of our friends — Isla, James, and Riya — share their dreams and nightmares, and then we meet up to go on an adventure to the Land of Qook-a-Lackas to visit DreamFest (a special Qook-a-Lacka dream ritual) to learn more about dreams.
Guest Stars in Dreams & Nightmares
Two special guests join us in this episode, and we are so grateful to them:
The ukulele music and the original song “Dreamland” are written and performed by Bill English. Bill is an actor, musician, and voiceover artist based in NYC who has appeared on Broadway in Twentieth Century starring Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche and Anything Goes with Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. TV credits include The Good Wife, Madam Secretary, Elementary, Cavemen, Family Guy, and more. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and proud member of Sag/Aftra.
Christy Pusz Decatur is a storyteller and former actress, who is also Creative Producer of Little Kids, Big Hearts. In this episode, she is the voice of a Qook-a-Leekie named Quamie. Some of Christy’s Broadway credits include The Odd Couple, Talk Radio and Baz Luhrman’s La Boheme. Some TV credits include: Law and Order SVU + CI, Smash, and Ugly Betty. She is a proud mother of two big hearted little kids and lives in Denver, Colorado.
Original Song: Dreamland
“Try” is written and performed by Bill English, an actor, musician, and voiceover artist based in NYC.
Educator Resources
We all have dreams and nightmares, but they remain mysterious to most of us: Where do they come from? Why do we have them? How do they make us feel? In this episode, three of our friends — Isla, James, and Riya — share their dreams and nightmares, and then we go on an adventure to talk more about dreams.
Dreams come from the same place in our brain that our feelings come from. In dreams, children can experience feelings of excitement, confusion, happiness, sadness, nervousness or even feelings of being scared. When we’re asleep our brains are still working and feeling. But the part of our brain that helps us to make decisions when we’re awake is resting. Our imaginations are in full swing. Acknowledging dreams and nightmares and helping children to separate dreams from reality is comforting.
These educational extensions can help you support children (Pre-K to Grade 3) as they explore dreams, listen to others’ dreams, and build important social and emotional skills as they do.