Noodle Words vs Starfall Pumpkin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Noodle Words
This interactive app brings 18 active words to life with animated characters, allowing young learners to play with words and discover their meanings through touch. Developed by a renowned children's designer, it encourages emerging readers ages 4-7 to engage with language in a fun and dynamic way.
- Interactive word play
- Animated characters
- Word meaning discovery
- Touch screen interaction
- Designed for emergent readers
- 18 playful words
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Through interactive play, our set of 18 active words come to life as the Noodle Bugs demonstrate word meanings with their highly animated antics. Young readers can interact with the words or the cute bugs using the iPad's touch screen. They literally play with the words to make SPIN spin and JUMP jump. Developed by award winning children’s designer Mark Schlichting, creator of the best selling Living Books series of interactive children's books, Noodle Words is the first in a series of animated Word Toys, Noodle Words encourages emerging readers ages 4-7 to discover word meanings like they never have before. ◆ Featured in USA Today ◆ Featured in Apple's New and Noteworthy in Education ◆ New-York Times Best Apps for Children - End of Year Edition ◆ Winner of the Parents' Choice Gold Award ◆ Winner of the 2012 KAPi Award for Best Educational Product ◆ Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice Award, with 4.7/5 "This is a masterful example of how an app can make learning fun." - Jinny Gudmundsen, USA Today "A charming educational app for iPad that is sure to put a smile on the face of users no matter the age, as well as teach the meaning of action words in ways most delightful" - GiggleApps.com This app has been a great hit with every child who has tried it. It's a great way for kids of all ages to learn and play with words, giggle, have fun, laugh and dance! ▸ "My preschool students love this app." ▸ "My four year old daughter makes a point of showing me each word." ▸ "This is such a fantastic app for my profoundly autistic teenage daughter. It is perfect. All I wish is for there to be hundreds more words! Thank you for all the work that must have gone into this app." ▸ "Noodle Words is one of our favorite apps ever!" -- KinderTown ▸ "This is a terrific app for teaching children the meaning of words." -- The iPhone Mom ▸ "Noodle Words is a very interactive word recognition game, and a great game for young readers." -- Famigo ▸ "I think Noodle Words a new classic; a breakthrough like Dr. Seuss's books, but in a sillier than ever, touchable medium." -- Ann H. McCormick, PhD, Founder, The Learning Company Features: • Universal App supports iPad, iPhone and iPod touch • Word Toy, with 18 playful words • Expressive Words • Invites Play • Word Learning • Highly Animated • Dynamic Interaction • Appealing Animated Characters • Simple and Elegant • Rich Multi-Touch Interface • Tips for Parents • Innovative Tutorial • Designed in Partnership with Children Not all children learn to read the same way. Exposure, repetition, and context all help build relationships to vocabulary and understanding. Noodle Words is a word toy designed to offer emerging readers a playful modality for language acquisition and word comprehension. Kids of all ages can explore at their own pace, and develop a love of word play through direct interaction. It's even designed to draw-in the most hesitant early reader. Noodle Words is a wonderful app to play with your children. Some kids love to show off what they can do, and others love to laugh with you when the Noodle Bugs do something silly. We hope playing together with your children brings you the same joy we had while making this app. --------- Privacy Disclosure: NoodleWorks Interactive creates engaging environments for children that are educational, fun and above all safe and appropriate. Our apps: - do not collect any information - do not contain ads or in-app purchases - do not have links to websites or social networks - do not use analytics or data collection tools Email us at info@noodleworks.com if you have any questions.
Starfall Pumpkin
Design unique pumpkin faces and weigh them to discover the lightest and heaviest. Save your creations and award blue ribbons to your favorites. This app is ideal for young learners developing reading and math skills.
- Pumpkin face design
- Pumpkin weighing (kg/lbs)
- Identify lightest/heaviest
- Save pumpkin creations
- Award blue ribbons
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Visit the Pumpkin Patch, choose a pumpkin and design a face. Weigh pumpkins in kilograms or pounds and discover which is the lightest and which is heaviest. Collect your pumpkin creations and give your favorite the blue ribbon! This app is excellent for emerging readers and young mathematicians.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Noodle Words at 4.2 against Starfall Pumpkin's 3.8. Noodle Words also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 60%) and update cadence (every 5 months vs every 11 months). Starfall Pumpkin's advantage is chart position (#172 vs unranked) and price ($0.99 vs $2.99). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Noodle Words costs $2.99 and Starfall Pumpkin $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Noodle Words holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 56 and 12 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Noodle Words's written reviews are positive against 60% of Starfall Pumpkin's.
Noodle Words ships an update every 5 months, Starfall Pumpkin every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Noodle Words | Starfall Pumpkin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.2 (56 ratings) — better | 3.8 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.6% of reviews — better | 60.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 56 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months — better | Every 11 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #172 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 102 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Independent | Starfall Education Foundation |
Customer experience
Noodle Words
Starfall Pumpkin
Bugs and requests
Noodle Words
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes
- App stuck on splash screen
- App goes from booting up to blank
- Cannot open the app
Requested features
10 requests- More word sets/lists
- Additional apps with similar concept
- In-app purchases for more words
- Customizable word lists
- Option to silence spoken word
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- Ability to guess word from action
- New versions for ABC/123
- Antonyms, homonyms, synonyms, rhymes lists
- Test at the end
- New lists without IAPs
Starfall Pumpkin
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Noodle Words
No in-app purchases
Starfall Pumpkin
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Noodle Words free?
Is Starfall Pumpkin free?
Which has better reviews, Noodle Words or Starfall Pumpkin?
Do Noodle Words or Starfall Pumpkin have ads?
Which is updated more often, Noodle Words or Starfall Pumpkin?
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