Integrating Traditional Games into Storybooks: Designing for Literacy and Cultural Preservation

Background/purpose. Basic education faces two major challenges: improving literacy while preserving traditional games, which are increasingly marginalized by digitization. This study aims to address gaps in integrated teaching materials, specifically the lack of children's storybooks that combine literacy development with traditional game content, through a comprehensive needs assessment to identify teacher literacy requirements and operational constraints, describe student interests, determine preferred book characteristics, and validate integrated traditional game storybooks as a dual intervention solution.

Materials/methods. This R&D study employed a purposive sampling method, involving nine teachers from four schools and 50 students from five schools. Data were collected through needs assessments and preference questionnaires, analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's rho correlation, Chi-Square test, and non-parametric comparison tests.

Results. Research shows a perfect correlation between resource availability and difficulties in implementing traditional games, with an understanding of the cognitive load of interdisciplinary teaching materials emerging as the most critical factor among teachers' overall challenges. Reading frequency shows a strong relationship with knowledge of traditional games, but only half of the students have ever encountered a storybook about traditional games. Chi-square analysis shows that current storybooks about traditional games have elitist characteristics. Students tend to choose medium-sized picture books with bright colors, concise language, and adventure themes; such publications show the strongest relationship with picture book knowledge.

Conclusion. The feasibility of developing storybooks integrated with traditional games as a solution. The conceptual model integrates adventure-themed narratives in a light format with comprehensive teacher guides, including clear curriculum mapping and ready-to-use rubrics, to bridge students' interests with teachers' operational needs, effectively improving literacy, preserving culture, and reducing teachers' workload.

Keywords: Traditional games, literacy development, cultural preservation, children's storybooks, needs assessment

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