What is Feedback?

Feedback is when something you do causes a change that affects what happens next, and that change can help you do even better.

Imagine you're trying to hit a ball with a toy hammer. You swing the hammer, and if you hit the ball, it goes flying! That’s feedback, the ball moving shows you did something right. But if you miss the ball, it doesn’t move. That also gives you feedback, it tells you you need to try again or maybe change your swing.

Think of a bouncing ball. When it hits the ground, it bounces back up. That’s like feedback: the ground pushes the ball up, so it keeps moving. The more energy the ball has when it hits the ground, the higher it bounces, that's how feedback helps things keep going or even get stronger.

Or think of a musical toy that plays a tune every time you press a button. If you press the button and hear music, that’s feedback telling you, “You did a good job!” If you press it again and it keeps playing, that’s more feedback, helping you learn what makes the toy happy.

So feedback is just something that helps you know how well you're doing, or how to do even better next time!