Comparison

Noodle Words vs Starfall Pumpkin

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Interactive word play
  • Animated characters
  • Word meaning discovery
  • Touch screen interaction
  • Designed for emergent readers
  • 18 playful words
Features
Read full description

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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Pumpkin face design
  • Pumpkin weighing (kg/lbs)
  • Identify lightest/heaviest
  • Save pumpkin creations
  • Award blue ribbons
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

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

Noodle Words4 screens
Starfall Pumpkin4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Noodle Words versus Starfall Pumpkin: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoodle WordsStarfall Pumpkin
Price$2.99$0.99 — better
Rating4.2 (56 ratings) — better3.8 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews76.6% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings56 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 5 months — betterEvery 11 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#172 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.012.0
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIndependentStarfall Education Foundation

Customer experience

Noodle Words

All ratings56 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive76.6%
Neutral1.6%
Negative21.9%

Starfall Pumpkin

All ratings12 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

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
Show 5 more
  • 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

None

Noodle Words

No in-app purchases

None

Starfall Pumpkin

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Noodle Words free?
Noodle Words costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Starfall Pumpkin free?
Starfall Pumpkin costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Noodle Words or Starfall Pumpkin?
Noodle Words is rated higher. Noodle Words averages 4.2 out of 5 from 56 ratings, while Starfall Pumpkin averages 3.8 from 12 ratings.
Do Noodle Words or Starfall Pumpkin have ads?
Neither Noodle Words nor Starfall Pumpkin shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Noodle Words or Starfall Pumpkin?
Noodle Words ships an update every 5 months, and Starfall Pumpkin every 11 months. Most recently, Noodle Words was updated on October 7, 2026 and Starfall Pumpkin on October 12, 2026.

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