It's a toy that's been passed on from generation to generation. This week, the Etch-A-Sketch turns 50.

"It was invented by a Frenchman in the mid 1950s.  He was an electrician and he introduced it at a European toy fair," said Nicolas Ricketts, the curator at the Strong National Museum of Play.

But it wasn't until 1960 that the toy - originally called the Magic Screen - was picked up by a company called Ohio Art. They re-named it the Etch-A-Sketch.

When the Etch-A-Sketch first hit the market it retailed for $6.  In the holiday season of 1960, it was the most popular toy.

"They sold, I think, hundreds of thousands if not millions of them even that very first Christmas, and it's just been selling really popularly ever since," said Ricketts.

That's one of the reasons it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. Over the decades, more than 150 million Etch-A-Sketches have been sold, and there's no sign that's slowing down. It's popular among kids and parents.

"One of the things is that parents love it.  There's no clean up, there is wonderful creativity involved with this toy and you don't have to clean it up, so you can take it with you on a trip or in the car," said Ricketts.

In 50 years, the Etch-A-Sketch has gone from toy to a pop culture icon.