Made By Hands, Inc.

little hands ~ big ideas™

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:  Dena  Hirschberg   

December 15, 2003 Made By Hands, Inc.

                                                                              773.281.1400

dena@made-by-hands.com

Made By Hands^TM Introduces New Craft Kit at Toy Fair-

It Lets You Make-Your-Own^TM Games

(Chicago, IL) – “Wanna play?  It’s easy! If you land on a flower you have to sing a song; land on a star and you have to tell a joke.  But if you roll a six, you have to go to jail and you can’t get out until you pick the right color card. OK?  And the first person to get all their pieces around the board wins,” says an exuberant Marlee, 6, as she explains the rules of a game she invented and designed with the amazing new art activity kit, Make-Your-Own^TM Games.

             Make-Your-Own^TM Games, the latest addition to the Made By Hands^TM award-winning line of arts & crafts kits, lets kids create board games, card games and even dice games.  Each kit comes with 1 folding game board, 1 spinner, 2 large dice, 6 small dice and a deck of cards – all in plain white sturdy cardboard waiting to be designed and adorned with over 800 Pop-Outs!^TM in 6 great colors and black.  All this (and glue stick) comes in a kid-friendly, portable portfolio with Velcro® closures.

            Like all the other award-winning Made By Hands^TM products, Make-Your-Own™ Games is simple in concept. “Our philosophy is to produce innovative and creative products that enhance what kids do naturally,” says Dena Hirschberg, the company’s co-president, “Our kids and their friends were making up wildly inventive games all the time!”

            “I love its versatility,” says Ava Berry, the company’s other co-president. “The folding game board allows you to make 2, even 3 board games.  And the small dice can be used as game pieces, although it’s fun to find stuff around the house for game pieces, too.”

            The Make-Your-Own^TM line of art activity kits from Made By Hands^TM has only been on retailers’ shelves since April, 2003, but it’s managed to create quite a buzz.  Their first 4 products have won 3 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Awards, 2 Dr. Toy Awards and 4 Parents’ Choice Awards.  “Our first order sold out in a week!” relates Doug Morris, owner of Little Hands Toy Shop in La Grange, Illinois.  “Made By Hands™ products are our #1 selling craft kits.”

            Unique in design and constructed of the highest quality, Make-Your-Own^TM  kits contain hundreds of Pop-Outs!™, an awesome array of geometric & whimsical pop-out cardboard shapes that are perfectly die-cut for little hands so kids can create easily and independently without a grown-up's help.  But with as much fun as kids are having with Make-Your-Own^TM Games, maybe some grown-ups will be playing with Pop-Outs!^TM, too. And, who knows?  Maybe next year’s hottest new game will be a Make-Your-Own^TM game designed by your 8 year-old!

Made By Hands, Inc., a mom-owned company based in Chicago, Illinois, is the manufacturer of the Make-Your-Own^tm line of children’s art activity kits.  These products can be found in over 150 specialty toy stores, children’s clothing boutiques, art supply stores, gift stores, stationery stores, museum stores, independent bookstores, and even spas in the US and Canada. Suggested retail price - $18.95.  For more information visit www.made-by-hands.com