The psychoanalytic understanding of dreams has traditionally been expressed in metaphorical terms drawn from the physical sciences; since Freud, we have conceptualized dreams as a kind of work. The “dreaming is work” metaphor, although originally helpful, has come to impede the further development of psychoanalytic knowledge about dreams. This article argues that a “dreaming is play” metaphor provides us with a more helpful conceptual framework for understanding dreams. By seeing dreams as a kind of play, we are able to (a) make better sense of new research on the formation and the functions of dreams and (b) appreciate certain valuable new roles for dreams in contemporary Western culture.