Paper tape

Paper tape is just like a roll of really long and thin paper that has lots of little holes punched in it. It's like a long, skinny piece of paper that has a bunch of holes in it that look like little circles. People used to use it to store information and instructions for machines, kind of like how we use computer programs today.

In order to use the paper tape, you would put it into a machine called a "punch", which would punch the holes in the right places to make patterns and instructions. Then, you could put the paper tape into another machine called a "reader", which would read the patterns of the holes and do whatever the instructions said to do.

Nowadays, we use computers instead of paper tape, but it was an important tool for people back in the day!