What is hardware?

Hardware is everything you can touch when you use a computer or phone.

Imagine your favorite toy box, that’s like hardware. Inside it, there are all the pieces you play with: blocks, cars, and dolls. Just like those toys help you play, hardware helps you use your devices.

• The screen: It's like a window where you see everything, games, videos, or messages.
• The buttons: You press them to tell the device what to do, just like pressing a button on a toy car makes it go.
• Inside the box: There are tiny parts that work together, like a brain and muscles for your toy.

Think of your phone or tablet like a robot. The hardware is its body, all the things you can touch. When you press a button, it sends a message to the robot’s brain (which we’ll talk about later), telling it what to do. Without the hardware, you couldn’t play games, watch videos, or send messages, it's like having no toys in your toy box!