Implementation of the Traditional Game "Petakumpet" as

Representation of Child Character Building

Hariadi Susilo, Salliyanti

The Faculty of Cultural Science USU, North Sumatera Province, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Implementation, Representation, Method, Research Finding, Scoring scale

Abstract: The implementation of the traditional game "Petak Umpet" at the research location was introduced as a

representation of various character building game procedures integrating the cultural values of the character

building of the Children. This research uses descriptive qualitative method. Data consists of primary and

secondary data. Primary data referred to traditional games andPetak Umpet (Hide and Seek), while

secondary data information obtained from several sources such as books, documents, photos, research

results, and other written material. Primary data were collected through observation by implementing

traditional game Petak Umpet games with applied data analysis of traditional game research instrument

"Petak Umpet" as Child Character Building. So, the results of the study show that the character building

found in traditional games, the Plot of Umpet is dominated by (a) religion, (b) curious, (c) democratic, (d)

honest, (e) hard work, (f) hard work, (g) discipline, (h) creative, (i) achievement, (j) care for the

environment.Traditional games for the formation of children's characters can be assessed through applied

instrument rating scale characters.

1 INTRODUCTION

Indonesian culture generally pays homage to the

values of the sense of togetherness which encourage

the creation of the games of people’s culture or

traditional games which have been left behind and

even forgotten by most people. Today, there are only

a few people who understand and do the series of

traditional activities because there are so many

changes which cause them to think that it is not

necessary to remember and carry out a traditional

activity in the society. There are many traditional

games throughout Indonesia. Each tribe and

civilization in a certain area has their own traditional

games.

A traditional game is a game which contains

good cultural values and has its function to train its

players to do important things which will be very

beneficial for their social life in the future; for

examples, training them to calculate, to think aptly

and wisely, not to be overly sentimental, to be

courageous, to be honest, to be sportsmanlike, etc.

The values of environmental wisdom are

abstractions of people’s experiences of adapting to

their environment in a broad sense, and can be

considered as guidelines, ways and directions for the

most effective activities for the supporting

community in carrying out community life in their

environment (P. Hijjang et al.,2018:59; 2018; A.

Kiran and J. Knights, 2010: 149; V.

Trajkoviketal,.2018: 243) In addition, this kind of

information could enable physical education

teachers to help students develop the attitudes,

behaviors, and cognitive strategies required to

become “healthy and competent” overall—that is,

socially, emotionally, academically, and physically,

because these four domains are closely related to

one another. This information would increase

people’s emotional awareness, something key to

developing social skills(P. Lavegaet al,.2010: 145)

Furthermore, local knowledge is a personality,

cultural identity of the community in the form of

values, norms, ethics, beliefs, customs, and special

rules accepted by society and proven ability to

survive continuously. (A. Mane Kandariat

al,.2017:129)

Haerani Nur et al. (2013:2) points out that over

time, especially rapid development of technology,

actually influences children’s activity in modern

games and begin to abandon traditional games.

Today, children would rather play digital games

such as video games, play-station (PS), and games

Susilo, H. and Salliyanti, .

Implementation of the Traditional Game "Petakumpet" as Representation of Child Character Building.

DOI: 10.5220/0008996101750180

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Language and Society (ICELS 2019), pages 175-180

ISBN: 978-989-758-405-3

175

online. These games have the image of modern

games since they are considered as “modern” since

they are played by using sophisticated devices with

up-to-date technology.

There were some factors which made

thisresearch in implementing traditional games: (1)

the culture of traditional games was empowered in

the life of children today, (2) the culture of

traditional games was considered as the

establishment of children’s mentality, (3) traditional

games indicated cultural richness in the forms of

values, ideas, ambition, and guidance of the people

in the old days, (4) the culture of traditional games

were assumed to haveprestigious skills as

entertainment which could be found everywhere;

therefore, this research would take inventory

traditional games and examine the material design,

and (5) traditional games with various kinds of skill

and capability of representing the establishment of

values of character building culture and integrating

cognitive, effective, and psychomotor domain.

Traditional knowledge is the knowledge which is

owned or controlled from generation to generation

and is still developed according to the exchange in

environment. Bishop, et. al. in his journal (W.

Hidayati, 2014) point out that traditional game is “a

game which has been handed down from generation

to generation; it has good, positive, valuable, and

desirable values. Local wisdom can be understood as

human attempt to use his common sense

(cognition)to act and to behave toward something,

object, or event which occurs in a certain space. This

understanding is arranged etymologically in which

wisdom can be understood as one’s capacity, using

his reasoning, to act or behave according to his

evaluation on an object of an event.

PetakUmpet (Hide and Seek) is a traditional

game culture which contains educational values

because the game provides happiness, gladness, and

cheerfulness for children who play the game.

Besides that, his traditional game establishes the

aspects of development, behavior, and reflection

which include social, emotional, dependency, norms

and religion, language development, cognitive, art,

and motoric physic (Setiawan, 2018:2. These aspects

will develop as there is the influence of the

environment where the children live. In this age of

achild, human basic capacity is developed and

becomes the foundation for the next growth and

development, including moral and behavioral

development which becomes the foundation for

character building.

One of the efforts to develop a child to have

character is by instilling character values in his life

through various kinds of activity. Consciously or

unconsciously, many character values are integrated

in it which is beneficial for instilling character

values in children. Yunus (1981:27) points out that a

traditional game which is often called the game of

common people grew and developed in rural areas in

the old days. It grew and developed based on the

need of the local people.

A traditional game is full of high cultural values

so that it is appropriate to be taught to children. Its

specific characteristics are as follows: (1) a

traditional game isusually played by two opponents

face to face, (2) It need a lot of movements, and (3)

it is done in group. Since it is played in group, it is

played by two opponents face to face which creates

social interaction among the players. From this

interaction, children can develop their capacity to

socialize with their peers or environment, to

traintheir creativity, to develop their motoric

capacity, to train their sportsmanship, and to tighten

friendship.

2 FORMULA OF THE

PROBLEMS

Based on the background above, the formula of the

problems was what factors which establish the

traditional game, PetakUmpet as character building.

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Previous studies

Hapidin,et al,. (2016) "Development of Traditional

Folk Game Models in building Early Childhood

Character". This research aims to develop various

types of traditional games into traditional

educational models in early childhood

Betty Yulia Wulansari (2017) "Preservation of

Cultural Arts and Traditional Games Through Local

Wisdom Themes in the Early Childhood Education

Curriculum" This research preserves traditional

games through early childhood education (PAUD).

PAUD is an institution that supports the existence of

a social system of friendship to play traditional

guarantees. Local wisdom can be applied to all

PAUD institutions throughout Indonesia so that our

country does not experience the crisis of the

extinction of traditional games.

Haerani Nur., at al,. (2013) "Building

Children's Characters Through Traditional

ICELS 2019 - International Conference on Education, Language, and Society

176

Children's Games". This paper aims to illustrate the

benefits of traditional children's games in building

children's character. This is motivated by the

phenomenon of children's play activities today,

namely playing modern games using technology,

such as online games. This paper compares the

effect of modern games with traditional games on

the character of children's characters. Returning the

Madison game as an alternative to creating a

superior generation of character

3.2 Representation of the Process of

Character Building

According to Prasetyo (2001:38),representation

of traditional games can be understood as the

meaning product through language with three

principles: first, they act as the constructive ideology

of meaning product through language because they

can be understood with an imagination by placing

the same thought of the presentation of traditional

games (ground); secondly, they explain symbolic

ideological construction which communicates the

meaning of an object through language to other

people so that they can be understood by language

convention (Lull, 1998:83; Geuss, 2004:47) thirdly,

various ideological association of cultural

construction can be understood by using semiotic

method.

According to Susilo (2006:15), the concept of

references can be understood and explained as

follows: first, knowledge of traditional games is

placed by students or adolescents in the cognitive

identity presentation which is behaved affectively;

secondly, traditional games represents the

knowledge of good mental health by helping

children communicate their feelings effectively;

thirdly, the knowledge of the two components will

influence the component of volition as the

commitment to present the psychomotor of good and

bad behavior.

Misbach (2006:7) points out that a game is a

playing situation which has some rules or a certain

objective which yields activities in the form of

intentional action. Therefore, it can be understood

that in the game there are some activities which are

bound by rules in order o achieve a certain objective.

His research shows that a traditional game can

stimulate various aspects of a child development

which include (1) motoric aspect by training

resistance, pliancy, sensory-motoric, rough motoric,

and smooth motoric;

3.3 Representation of Character

Building Values

Setiawan (2016:5) points out that cultural values

embodied in traditional games as follows: (1)

training independency, (2) determined to make

decision, (3) full of responsibility, (4) honest, (5)

controlled opponents, (6) cooperative, (7) helping

and guarding to each other, (8) protecting the

interest of groups, (9) democratic, (10) adhering

torules, (11) full of consideration, (12) accurate in

thinking and acting, (13) not mushy, (14)

courageous, (15) polite, and (16) inflexible.

Susilo (2018: 56) explains in detail the character

building as follows: (1) relationship between man

and God: religious values, (2) relationship between

man and nature: the value of care for environment,

(3) relationship between man and society: a) the

value of tolerance, b) the value of love for a country,

c) the value of caring for social affairs, d) the value

of love peace, e) the value of togetherness, f) the

value of mutual assistance, g) the value of

consanguinity, and h) the value of demonstration, (4)

the value of human culture with other people: a) the

value of honesty, b) the value of respectful, c) the

value of social control, d) the value of ethics, and (5)

relationship between man and himself: a) the value

of discipline, b) the value of hard working, c) the

value of creativity, d) the value of independency, e)

the value of curiosity, f) the value of nationality, g)

the value of appreciating achievement, h) the value

of friendship, i) the value of being fond of reading, j)

the value of responsibility, k) the value of loyalty,

and l) the value of being ready to sacrifice.

4 METHOD

This research uses data analysis method according

toSugiyono (2017: 35 7) consisting of primary and

secondary data. Primary data of traditional game of

Hide and Seek, and secondary data including

information obtained from several sources such as

books, documents, photos, research results and other

written material Primary data collection is based on

observations by implementing Petak Umpet, then the

data obtained in the game are analyzed by applying

traditional game research instrument technology as

Child Character Building.

Implementation of the Traditional Game "Petakumpet" as Representation of Child Character Building

177

5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Discussion

The data in the research location were gathered by

conducting observation, and recording, analyzed as

follows:

5.1.1 Applying the Recording of Traditional

Game, Petak Umpet

Figure 1 : Traditional Game, Petak Umpet

PetakUmpet a traditional game in Central Java;

in Javanese it is called, Dhelikan.This term is

derived from a basic word, ndelik which means in

Indonesian “to hide.” Therefore, there will be no

problem if the word is translated into Indonesian as

PetakUmpet in which the players attempt to hide

while one of them tries to seek and to find them.

This is a joyful game which is played by more than

one child, and it does not need any financial cost. It

only needs a tree, a wall, or a support in any form

for one player to close his eyes with his hands, and

the other players hurriedly ngumpet (hide) according

to a certain count. Historically, it is difficult to find

out since when this game existed.

If we trace from Encyclopedia Britannica,it is

said that this game has existed since the second

century. The written evidence is digested by a

Greek writer, Julius Pollux, who says that there was

the same type of game, Apodidraskinda, in Greece.

In the modern Greekk era, this type of game is

called, Kryfto. It is assumed that there are the same

types of game throughout the world with different

names. In Spain, it is called Escondite, in France it

is called Jeu de Cache-Cache, in Israel it is called

Machboim, in Korea it is called Sumbagoggil, in

Rumania it is called de-av-atiAscunselea, in Bolivia

it is called Tuja, in Honduras and El Salvador it is

called cucumbe, and in England and the United

States it is called Hide and Seek. Onethingfor sure

is that this typeof game has a lot of benefits or

advantages.

5.1.2 Procedure of Playing the Game

Some method of playing this game is as follows:

1. Before the traditional game "PetakUmpet"

participants first recited the Prayer

2. Focus group discussions instill the rules of the

game and what media are used in the game to

participants of the traditional game

"PetakUmpet”

3. First, it is determined who will be the first

“seeker”; it can be done by some different ways.

It can be the youngest player or the boy who is

in his anniversary or birthday, or by using a

word game such as “one potato, two potatoes,”

or any other similar games, or by tossing a coin

or drawing lots. If an older player becomes the

seeker, he will be a natural seeker. The younger

the seeker is, the more upset he is since the other

seekers are more experienced to hide than him.

4. Starting to play. After one of the players

becomes the seeker, he will stay in the home

base, close his eyes and begin to count loudly

from one until the agreed number. The seeker

can also reads a pantun or sing a song until

finishes so that the other players have time to

hide. Make sure that all players, except the

seeker, know the duration of hiding, and make

sure that all hiders are not cheating. The seeker

should close his eyes with his palms and face

awall or a tree or a pole. He is not allowed to

peep.

5. Go hiding. All players, except the seeker, will

run to the place where they can hide while the

seeker is counting: one, two, three, four...He is

forbidden to peep the other players who are

looking for the places to hide. They all keep

silent and not moving while they are hiding or

the seeker can use his ears to listen to the other

players’ steps so that he can guess their direction.

The hiders try hard not to make themunknown by

the seeker; therefore, they have to keep silent in

their hiding places.

6. Starting to seek. After the seeker finishes

counting, he will shout: “Are you ready? I’ll find

you!” At this moment, the seeker begins to find

the hiders. He will use his eyes and ears

attentively. Once he finds hiders, he has to touch

them. On the other hand, the hiders try to move

silently to the other places if they see that the

seeker approaches them in order to avoid being

caught. They usually do it by creeping or

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crawling. But, if it is too late to move away, sit

still and don’t move! The seeker might pass them

and move away. It is a good idea to move to the

places where the seeker has been there. This is

called a strategy. If some hiders do not come

back to the home base in agreed time or they are

not found, the seeker should give universal sign

that allis clear. He then yells, “All of you are free

now!” It means that all of them are safe to go

back to the home base.

7. The change of one of the hiders to be the seeker.

The first hider who is found by the seeker will

change his position to be the new seeker in the

next cycle of the game. However, it depends on

the agreement among the players – the next cycle

of the game will begin if one of the hiders is

found or all of the hiders are found. All players

can also determine the duration of a game – if a

seeker is not able to find the hiders in certain

time (3 time, for example), his position has to be

changed so that every player is given the

opportunity to hide.

5.1.3 Analysis on the Data of Character-

Building Values

Table 1 applied data analysis of traditional game research

instrument technology "Petak Umpet" as Child Character

Building

Technique of the Game

Character

Building

Saying a prayer before

playing

Religious

Explaining the rules of the

game (FGD)

Curiosity

Determining who will the

seeker is done with some

different ways

Democracy

The seeker is forbidden to

peep and to countincorrectly

Honest

The hiders should run and

find safe places to hide

Hard

working

Hiders can move away to the

other places or stay still

Disciplined

Thinking hard to avoidbeing

found or caught and trying to

get fast to the home base

Creative

Si Players who can first reach the

home base are the winners

and can hide again

Achievement

Te game is in open space so

that the children can learn

how to maintain and conserve

natural environment where

they can play games any time

Care for

environment

5 RESULT

Based on the explanation in the analysis, character

building in the traditional game, PetakUmpet,

represents as follows:

1. Traditional game, PetakUmpet, represents (a)

religious, (b) curious (c) democratic, (d) honest,

(e) hard working, (f) disciplined, (g) creative, (h)

achievement, and (i) care for environment.

2. The values of character building in the traditional

game, PetakUmpet, should be understood that

integrating the development of individual

character building includes the establishment of

cognitive, affective, volition, and behavioral

components.

3. Traditional games for the formation of children's

characters can be assessed through applied

instrument rating scale characters

4. As in school, this game consists of critical

importance, all payers lead themselves to large

“value add” on noncognitive skills, in terms of

producing desirable long terms outcome like

course taking and graduation as much as other

players who are good at adding value to the

(much more easily measured) skills. And that

means that, at present, we risk failing to find,

study, reward, and replicate half of what matters

for life success, and can be learned from the

game, and other players who are on paths to a

life time of success. (A. Sokatch, 2017:1238)

5. Children traditional games (also called folk

games) are those that are passed from child o

child, generation to generation, informally by

word of mouth,” and most childrem games

include at least two of the following six features

in different proportion physical skill, strategy,

chance, repetition of patterns, creativity and

vertigo (Sierra et al,. 1995: 3)

6 CONCLUSION AND

SUGGESTION

6.1 Conclusion

It could be concluded fromthe discussion on the

representation of character building that the

traditional game, PetakUmpet, contained (a)

religious, (b) curious, (c) democratic, (d) honest, (e)

hard working, (f) disciplined, (g) creative, (h)

achievement, and (i) care for environment.

Cognitive aspect of traditional games teaches us

to understand character values about good and bad

Implementation of the Traditional Game "Petakumpet" as Representation of Child Character Building

179

with rational basis which will process creatively

moral decision to develop imagination and

creativity, and problem solving develops skills in

children’s growth and development. The stored

knowledge will influence the establishment which

has been instilled in the affective component to yield

morals and ethics. Good value of mental health can

help children communicate their feelings effectively

and naturally, reduce their anxiety, their self-control,

and train their concentration. These two components

will influence volition, commitment to present the

psychomotor of good and bad behavior.

6.2 Suggestion

It is recommended that parents teach traditional

games to their children as early as possible so that

they will be able to represent the representative

behavior of character-building values and to know

what is good and what is bad. Teachers should teach

traditional games at school and provide character

education to their students in classes or in extra-

curricular activities. School management should

provide facilities for traditional games.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The implementation of this research was based on

the Directive of the Rector the University of

Sumatera Utara No. 1515/UN5.1.R/SK/SDM/2016

on August 5, 2016, The fund for the research was

from DRPM Kemenristekdikti, the applied research

scheme of Higher Education Priority in the fiscal

year of 2018 with the Agreement Number:

204/UN.2.3.1/PPM/KP-DRPM/2018 on February 5,

2018 Phase I; the next research fund from DRPM

Kemenristekdikti for phase 2 of 2019.

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