DalangBocah: An educative communication technique to develop children’s character

In Indonesia, educative study tours have been carried out since the 1990s by integrating various fields, including art. However, educative tourism based on dalangbocah (i.e., children who are puppeteers of Javanese shadow puppet shows) has not been developed, even though it has great potential to be developed into a form of educative tourism. This paper aims to analyze the implementation of dalangbocah-based educative tourism. This paper employed the descriptive qualitative research method. The data in this research were dalangbocah-based educative tourism activities in PadepokanSarotama (a place to learn arts) in Central Java Province. The data in this research were collected using interview, observation, and documentation techniques. The data were analyzed using the interactive method. Results of this research showed that the success of developing dalangbocah-based educative tourism depends on participants, stages of training, and the attractive packaging of this art. Apart from that, educative tourism is not only packaged to provide entertainment but also knowledge and character education. However, there are some points of improvement that need to be optimized for the sustainable development of dalangbocah-based educative tourism, such as the need for guidelines that provide knowledge on art, the lack of collaboration between artists and educational institutions, the need for optimum promotion through social media, as well as the need for regulations and programs that are designed for its long-term sustainability. This paper can encourage the usage of dalangbocah activities as an educative communication technique to develop children’s character.