The Lan Na Children’s Local Games and the Multiple Intelligences Encouragement

Abstract

This qualitative research aimed to study the elements of local games played by Lan Na children, and analyze how these games help encouraging the children’s skills
in accordance with Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The analysis was based on the data of 145 types of Lan Na’s local games collected from the documents and from the fieldworks applying folklore methodology; the convenience and voluntary sampling method was applied to collect data from 20 key informants. The result revealed that the element of local games played by Lan Na children was composed of 7 components: 1) the objectives of the games, 2) the number of the players, 3) the playing venue, 4) the rule and the instruction, 5) the song lyrics (for singing along while playing games), 6) the equipment of the games, and 7) the gender of the game players. All types of Lan Na children’s local games could stimulate the children’s multiple intelligences. First, the bodily-kinesthetic was mostly found in all games. As for the interpersonal and the intrapersonal, they were usually found in tandem and in games played by more than 2 players or by team.  Next, the linguistic-verbal and the musical were generally and concurrently found, but only in a few games and not obvious. Same as the logical-mathematical and the visual-spatial, they were also found only in some games and not distinct. Finally, the naturalist was generally related to the games requiring outdoor or natural playground. However, these games were less likely to be found at present due to the change
in environment and society. The result of this study could further benefit both the school and the parent; while the former could introduce these games in the physical education class, the later could apply these games in order to develop the children’s multiple intelligences in various dimensions.