“Etch a Sketch”
Feeling artistic? Like drawing and being creative? Then, the good old ‘Etch a Sketch’ is just the thing for you.

If you don’t remember what an ‘Etch a Sketch’ is, then you really missed out on something great. An ‘Etch a Sketch’ is a thick, flat gray screen in a plastic frame with two knobs on the front of the frame in the bottom corners. By turning the knobs, you move a stylus that displaces aluminum powder on the back of the screen, leaving a dark solid line on the light gray screen. The knobs create lineographic images. If you turn the left control, you move the stylus horizontally, and if you turn the right one, you move it vertically. To clear the picture, you must turn the toy upside down and shakes it. This will cause the styrene beads to smooth out and re-coat the inside surface of the screen with aluminum powder.

The ‘Etch a Sketch was invented back in the late 1950s by French electrician André Cassagnes who initially called it the ‘telecran’ referring to it resemblance to a TV screen. However, it was in the 1960 holiday season, that The Ohio Art Company launched this invention with its current name of ‘Etch a Sketch’.

Being so popular, this toy has now expanded to a coloured version in 1993. This ‘Etch a Sketch’ is very similar to the normal one but has several additional features including six colours and the ability to produce a coloured copy of each picture drawn.
‘Etch a Sketch’s have even been known to be used by artist to produce masterpieces and professional lineographic work. They remove the aluminum powder to make the drawings permanent. 

 In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Etch a Sketch to its Century of Toys List, a list honouring the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th century. So, it is not just an old fashioned toy, as it remains popular to this day.