fading of social interaction in children because they 
no longer have to communicate directly with friends 
and neighbors so that it also fades the communication 
skills and social spirit of children, who are the future 
generations  of  the  nation  and  future  leaders  of  the 
nation. This is also very dangerous for the survival of 
the  nation's  character.  The  changing  times  and 
technological  developments  in  the  digital  era  have 
made  it  easier  for  humans  to  carry  out  activities 
independently,  individually,  without  the  help  of 
others. This can result in the erosion of the values of 
communication,  social,  cooperation,  and  mutual 
cooperation  in  children,  who  are  the  nation's  next 
generation. 
Currently,  the  rapid  development  of  technology 
also  makes  traditional  games  increasingly 
marginalized.  Traditional  games  have  several 
advantages, especially in instilling character values in 
children.  Dharmamulya  explained  that  traditional 
games  contain  several  positive  values  for  the 
development  of  children's  character,  including  fun, 
friendship, freedom, obedience, mutual cooperation, 
responsibility  and  democracy  (Munisa,  2020).  The 
purpose of early childhood education is for children 
to  become  complete  human  beings  with  noble, 
intelligent,  and  skilled  personalities,  able  to 
communicate,  socialize,  and  cooperate  with  others, 
and able to live in a society, state, and happy. based 
on the characteristics of the Indonesian nation. Based 
on these objectives, communication skills and social 
skills  are  very  important  to  achieve  a  complete 
personality  in  accordance  with  the  cultural 
characteristics  of  the  Indonesian  nation. 
Communication  skills  and  social  spirit  are  needed, 
because  humans  are  actually  social  creatures  (zoon 
politicon-Aristotle). 
The school environment is a suitable environment 
for  children  to  socialize.  In  a  social  environment, 
children  will  learn  to  relate  to  peers,  teachers  and 
people  in  the  school  environment  (Istianti  et  al., 
2016). Character education is an educational concept 
that  is  currently  being  implemented.  Apply  the 
concept of moral education and shape the character of 
students  who  have  political  ability  and  integrity. 
Hariyanto explained that personality is the basic value 
of every person, and is formed due to environmental 
influences  and  genetic  influences  that  shape 
personality.  Therefore,  the  cultivation  of  character 
values must begin at an early age. Lickona revealed 
that without character values, one cannot live happily 
and  social  life  cannot  run  smoothly.  Without  good 
character  values,  humans  cannot  achieve  a  life that 
respects the dignity of all people (Kirom, 2017). 
Social  attitude  is  personal  awareness,  which 
determines  the  correct  and  repetitive  behavior  of 
social  objects. Social  attitudes  are not expressed  by 
one  person  alone,  but  are  noticed  by  people  in  the 
group.  The  object  is  a  social  object  (many  from  a 
group of people) and is stated repeatedly. If the social 
environment  in  question  encourages  or  provides 
opportunities  for  children  to  develop  actively,  then 
children  will  be  able  to  achieve  mature  social 
development. Conversely, if the  social  environment 
is not good, then the child's social attitude will often 
show deviant behavior. In schools, teachers play an 
important role in fostering students' social  attitudes. 
In the classroom, the teacher plays an important role 
in  guiding  students  to  achieve  the  goals  to  be 
achieved,  including  the  development  of  social 
attitudes.  The  goal  is  to  train  students  to  become 
human beings who believe and fear  God Almighty, 
have  noble  character,  are  healthy,  knowledgeable, 
capable,  creative,  independent,  and  are  democratic 
and  responsible  citizens  (Law  of  the  Republic  of 
Indonesia No 20 of 2003). 
In  order  to  develop  children's  communication 
skills and social skills in the learning process outside 
the  classroom,  a  traditional  game  that  can  improve 
children's communication skills and social attitudes is 
gobak sodor (Fakhriyani, 2018). The selection of the 
Gobak  Sodor  game  was  based  on  various 
considerations. As said by  (Angraini  & Nurhafizah, 
2020), the Sodor game requires good strategy, agility, 
cooperation, leadership, honesty and good intuition to 
play.  Gobag  Sodor  is  a  game  played  in  a  square- 
shaped arena  bounded by  chalk  lines. It  consists  of 
two  teams,  each  with  three  guards,  one  team  as 
guards,  the  other  as  players,  and  teams  of  alternate 
players. Will try to hit the line. Behind the arena (the 
door), a guard will stop him. If a player is touched by 
a defender, the two teams will take turns as a player 
and a defender (Ariani, 1998). Gobak sodo is a team 
sport  game  that  requires  teamwork.  In  addition  to 
cooperation  and  community  participation  in  teams, 
the Gobak Soodor game is also a sport with complex 
sports elements. In practice, the game of gobak sodor 
involves  mastering  various  elements  of  skills, 
including  mastery  of  technical  skills,  tactical  skills, 
physical and mental skills (Ariani, 1998). 
Departing  from  the  above  phenomenon,  the 
researcher  is  interested  in  describing  the  children's 
game gobak sodor to foster communication skills and 
social attitudes. This is the reason why researchers are 
interested in conducting research with the title "The 
benefits  of  the  traditional  game  of  Gobak  Sodor  to 
improve communication skills & social skills in early 
childhood".