Talking about old toys
Use the questions below to talk with children about the Etch A Sketch. Talk about the image here, or use the questions to explore an Etch A Sketch you or the children may have brought in to your classroom or setting.
The Etch A Sketch was invented by a French electrician called André Cassagnes in the late 1950s. He called it L’Ecran Magique, the magic screen.
Use the questions below to talk with children about the Etch A Sketch. Talk about the image here, or use the questions to explore an Etch A Sketch you or the children may have brought in to your classroom or setting.
Try turning this into a game.
The Etch A Sketch might remind you of a TV, a video game or an iPad.
This is a drawing toy, called an Etch A Sketch.
This toy is about 60 years old.
It’s made mainly from plastic.
A toy like this called ‘Etch’ appears in the famous Toy Story films. It can’t talk, so it uses pictures to show the other characters what it’s trying to say. What do you think this Etch A Sketch might have seen in its long life? What pictures might it draw to tell you about it?
Set up an area with rulers and lots of different mark-making materials: pencils, chalks, crayons, pens etc. Encourage children to practice drawing straight lines.
Explore straight lines in the playground or school hall. Children could try walking along the edge of a metre rule, a P.E. bench or lines marked out for a football pitch or hopscotch. Can they use metre rules to make their own shapes for their friends to follow?
Compare and contrast
Compare the Etch A Sketch with an iPad (or similar digital tablet).
What can children see that’s the same or different?
Try drawing with an iPad or tablet. How is this the same or different to drawing on an Etch A Sketch?
Straight line challenge
Try drawing or making patterns with a pencil and a ruler, using only straight lines (children might find this easier to do on squared paper).
Young historians
What questions do children have about this toy? Encourage them to think carefully about something they would really like to find out about the Etch A Sketch. They could take it in turns to hold a picture of a large question mark, and think of a question beginning with Who, Where, Why, What, When or How to share with the group or class.
Where could they find out the answers? They could: