Arthur Granjean invented Etch-a-sketch in the late 1950s. Granjean displayed his prototype, which he had built in his basement and called "L'Ecran Magique" ("The Magic Screen"), at the 1959 International Toy Exhibition. There, executives of the Ohio Art Company

Ohio Art Company

Ohio Art Company is a manufacturing company founded in 1908 based in Bryan, Ohio. The company is principally engaged in two lines of business. The first line of business is the sales, marketing and distribution of toys including the Etch A Sketch, and K's Kids...

 acquired the rights to produce it commercially.

The classically simple, lineographic

Lineography

Lineography is the art of drawing without lifting the pen, pencil, or paintbrush that is being used. The practice originated in France in the seventeenth century and had fallen into disuse by the early nineteenth century. In some instances, entire landscapes and still lifes have been drawn or...

, Etch-a-Sketch, which debuted during the Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 shopping season of 1960, near the peak of the baby boom

Baby boom

A baby boom is any period marked by a greatly increased birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds and when the number of annual births exceeds 2 per 100 women...

, is one of the best-known toys of a generation and remains popular today.

The Etch a Sketch is filled with a fine aluminum dust and a sylus than scrapes the dust which leaves the mark you see. When you shake it to erase more aluminum dust replaces it.