TODAY'S COLUMN: SCRABBLE COMPETITION LURES FAMILY AWAY FROM TELEVISION

I've been reading the dictionary lately, concentrating on short words that use the letters Z, X, Q, K and H. Looking for ways to take one word and, with a few additional letters, turn it into something else.

In a word, I've discovered Scrabble.

Until Santa left this crossword game under our Christmas tree this year, I'd never played Scrabble. So to avoid getting waxed by my husband, who has played all his life, I'm been brushing up on good words.

For those unfamiliar with the game, it's played on a board divided into squares, some of which allow you to double or triple the value of letters or words. Onto these squares, you place tiles, each of which has printed on it a letter from the alphabet, to make words. Also on each tiles is the numerical value of that letter. Commonly used letters like vowels and consonants like T are worth 1 point. Letters more difficult to use are worth more. Z is worth 10 points. After the first player creates a word in the center, players take turns adding letters to those already played to form new words.

So if HOME is the first word created and it's placed on the board horizontally, you can put an S on the square above the H and an E on the one below it to make SHE or add an R to the end to make HOMER.

As in life, one thing can lead to another. PASSION can become COMPASSION, WIN can turn into WINCE, if you ASK you can set things ASKEW.

Words I've been sure were in the dictionary have failed me. I often say "Hi" to greet people, but now I've found "hi" is not considered a word by Merriam Webster.

My vocabulary is being expanded with words I never realized existed. Did you know "zenana" is another word for harem or that "qindar" is a monetary unit of Albania.

I've heard of xeroscaping, which is landscaping with plants that require little water, but I didn't know its rootword "xeric," characterized by or requiring only a small amount of moisture.

But the best part of the game is not what I'm learning from it or my searches through the dictionary. The best part is that the game has managed to, at least on a few occasions so far, pull my family away from the television.

On a recent afternoon I challenged my 11-year-old son to a Scrabble game. He was beginning to get frustrated on this, his first stab at playing the game, when my husband volunteered to help him. Even my 6-year-old joined in. While his mid-kindergarten education doesn't have him putting together many words yet, he sat on my lap and offered his morale support, though he did tend to give away the letters I was holding.

Still, for about an hour, we were all gathered around the kitchen table having fun and hopefully learning something along the way.

To help even more, I discovered these tips for playing Scrabble with your kids from the Scrabble Web site (www.hasbroscrabble.com), which says playing Scrabble can help foster in children a curiosity about words, build spatial relations and strategic thinking skills, strengthen social skills and requires a familiarity with addition and multiplication.

Don't spend a lot of time talking about rules and strategy. Jump right in!

Let children use a dictionary. It's a terrific safety net and a great learning skill.

Play for fun, spelling your names or a favorite word with the tiles. Then practice adding up the score.

Explain anagrams. Have children see how many words they can make out of the letters in their names. Then show how the letters in the word TEA can also spell EAT and ETA or how CAROB can become COBRA.

Introduce rules and strategy once children understand the basics.

Teresa S. Johnson is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian