How Etch a Sketch Became One of the Most Popular Toys of All Time

With its bright red plastic frame, two white knobs and gray screen full of possibilities, the Etch A Sketch stands as one of the most iconic toys ever created. Since its debut in 1960, more than 100 million of the mechanical drawing devices—which allow users to create a picture and then erase it with one good shake—have been sold.

The Etch A Sketch helped kick-start a “golden age of toy creativity,” says Edwin Sobey, who founded the National Toy Hall of Fame. Fueled by postwar optimism, the growing baby boom and an explosion of new technologies—in particular, affordable new plastics—that golden age spawned iconic toys including the Hula-Hoop, Lego, Mr. Potato Head and Frisbee.

Etch A Sketch stood out with parents because it allowed children to be artistic without creating a mess, explains Chris Bensch, vice president for collections at The Strong National Museum of Play. “It was a challenging yet approachable form of creativity that was all entirely contained on screen and didn’t require batteries.”

Etch a Sketch was the brainchild of inventor André Cassagnes, who grew up in a family of bakers just outside of Paris between the world wars, but became one of France’s most famous kite designers and toymakers. “He was allergic to flour,”  says Bensch. “So he went off into the world of electrical material.”

While working at a wallpaper factory as an electrical technician in the mid 1950s, Cassagnes spotted a light switch plate covered in a plastic decal. After marking the decal with a pencil, then peeling the decal off, he noticed his marks still visible on the other side. He immediately saw the possibilities and began to tinker with other materials at the company. 

“This included aluminum powder, which could become static charged so that it adhered to a piece of glass or plastic,” explains Bensch. In the Etch A Sketch, the two knobs are “attached to a monofilament wire,” says Sobey, “which scratches the screen and pulls the aluminum powder so it leaves a line where the cursor was.” Shake the screen, and the powder disperses.

When Cassagnes debuted his brainchild, which he named L'Ecran Magique (the Magic Screen), at the 1959 Nuremberg Toy Fair in West Germany, companies didn’t immediately recognize its potential. “One of the problems was that there was nothing else like it,” says Bensch. “People didn’t see what made it appealing.” Plus, he was seeking a $100,000 advance, a king’s ransom for the time, according to Bill Killgallon, retired president of Ohio Art Company, one of the firms that passed on the deal that year. 

When Cassagnes showcased the product the following year at the 1960 New York Toy Fair, Ohio Art reconsidered. Taking a huge gamble, they spent $25,000 ($270,000 in 2025 dollars) to license the Magic Screen idea. “It was more than they had ever paid to license a toy before,” says Bensch. “It was an astronomical sum for them.”

The first toys rolled off the assembly line on July 12, 1960, retailing for $2.99. The Ohio Art Company began advertising them—renamed as Etch a Sketch—right away that summer, to start building holiday demand. The plan worked so well that, according to Bensch, the factory’s production line was churning out the toys right up until midday on Christmas eve. 

Since the screen visually echoed that of a television set of the time, the Ohio Art Company used TV’s increasing prominence in the United States to market the new plaything. “It was one of the first toys to get intensive advertising on television so they could demonstrate it to potential customers,” says Bensch. Cassagnes originally used a joystick to control the stylus, but the Ohio Art Company replaced it with knobs so it could resemble a television set even more closely. Aside from that, the essential product has changed very little. In 1969, the company replaced the original plate glass screen with a plastic one after an outcry by child safety advocates.

Since its release, more than 100 million have been sold, boosted along the way by cultural and newsworthy moments.

The Etch A Sketch saw a resurgence in popularity after appearing in the 1995 blockbuster film Toy Story and its subsequent sequels. In 2012, a comment by presidential candidate Mitt Romney prompted the Ohio Art Company to release a blue version of the toy, giving voters a chance to choose one that matched their political affiliation. “There have been licensed versions with Frozen and “Simpsons” characters, heart-shaped ones for Valentine’s Day, [even] Christmas tree-shaped Etch A Sketches,” notes Bensch. 

Etch A Sketch artists have become so creative that in 2015 the Ohio Art Company hosted Sketch Madness, an eight-person competition won by Jane Labowitch, known on Tik Tok as Princess Etch. Scanning the internet reveals an abundance of elaborate Etch A Sketch creations ranging from the Taj Mahal to famous paintings to sporting icons, among other images. The toy even has its own holiday: Etch A Sketch Day falls every year on July 12. 

Following Spin Master Corporation’s purchase of its name and design rights in 2016, the Etch A Sketch continues to attract a new generation of artists. “Spin Master saw ongoing value in it. It’s one of those dream products for toy companies,” says Bensch. “The Etch A Sketch is evergreen. They may not be best sellers, but they keep on selling because they’re passed from generation to generation.”