Comparison

Puppet Pals 2 vs Number Frames, by MLC

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

Head to head
About

Puppet Pals 2

Unleash creativity by making animated cartoons with interactive puppets. Children and teachers can easily create high-quality animated stories, presentations, and educational content. Share finished projects via email, social media, or direct file transfer.

Highlights
  • Create animated cartoons
  • Interactive puppet show
  • Star in shows with built-in characters
  • Share finished projects easily
  • Engage students in learning
  • Create instructional videos
Read full description

• “Puppet Pals is an amazing app that lets you create animated cartoons.” -David Pogue (NewYork Times) Children unlock creativity with this easy to use (but hard to put down) interactive puppet show! Even young children can create high quality cartoons from their imaginations. Kids can even star in the show along side the built-in characters! Teachers: Engage students by allowing them to act out historical events, practice language skills, or deliver a killer book report. The cartoons that kids are making have delighted thousands of teachers and parents around the world - let yours be next to experience this award-winning digital addition to your classroom. The finished projects are easily shared to be watched by others (share via email, Facebook, or simply copy the video file to your computer and distribute how you see fit - Hint: students love to see their work displayed on a classroom blog). • Create short instructional videos (in any learning area) • Storytelling, Reports, Historic Retells • Help reluctant public speakers present to the class • Help foreign language or ESL students practice their fluency & language skills • Brainstorming or storyboarding ideas and presentations Characters chosen from standard curriculum allow kids to fully engage with content - not even realizing they are actually learning valuable lessons that will stay with them for years to come!

About

Number Frames, by MLC

This app provides virtual number frames to help elementary students visualize and manipulate numbers up to one hundred. It supports counting, comparing, and computing, aiding the transition from one-by-one counting to more efficient strategies. Custom frames can be created for advanced visualization of factors and fractions.

Highlights
  • Standard and custom number frames
  • Variety of counters and colors
  • 5s grid for grouping emphasis
  • Resizable covers for problem modeling
  • Drawing and annotation tools
  • Math text and writing tools
  • Shareable work via image or code
Features
Read full description

Number Frames help students structure numbers to five, ten, twenty, and one hundred. Students use the frames to count, represent, compare, and compute with numbers in a particular range. The frames allow students see quantities as equal groups of other quantities and in relation to benchmark quantities. This helps primary students move away from one-by-one counting toward more efficient ways of counting and computing. As students advance, custom frames can be constructed to help visualize factors, products, fractional parts and more. These virtual versions of number frames are open-ended educational tools, ideal for elementary classrooms and other learning environments that use iPads. Number frames are a key model used in Bridges in Mathematics, second edition. Online preview available at: www.mathlearningcenter.org/bridges FEATURES: • Use standard 5-, 10-, 20-, and 100-frames, or create custom frames up to 12 x 12. • Choose from a variety of counters and colors. Drag single counters — or stacks of 5 and 10 — into frames or on to the workspace. • Apply a 5s grid to frames to emphasize every 5th line and reinforce grouping by five. • Hide and reveal counters with resizable covers to create your own problems and model strategies. • Use the drawing tools to annotate work and show understanding. • Add equations, expressions, and descriptions with the math text and writing tools. • Share your work by saving an image or providing a share code to others. MORE APPS For more Number Line resources and other apps, visit: www.mathlearningcenter.org/apps LEARN MORE To learn about Bridges in Mathematics, an elementary curriculum that employs visual models like number line, visit: www.mathlearningcenter.org/bridges/overview ABOUT US This resource is brought to you by The Math Learning Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to K-12 education since 1976. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This app was crafted by Clarity Innovations. We help improve teaching and learning by creating solutions that match promising technologies with the needs of education. Visit us: www.clarity-innovations.com

Screenshots

Puppet Pals 24 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Number Frames, by MLC at none against Puppet Pals 2's 10. Number Frames, by MLC also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 63%). Puppet Pals 2's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (123 vs 7). On price, rating and ads 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

Both are free to download. Puppet Pals 2 sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Number Frames, by MLC asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.1 for Puppet Pals 2 against 4.0 for Number Frames, by MLC. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Puppet Pals 2 has 123 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 63% of Puppet Pals 2's written reviews are positive against 89% of Number Frames, by MLC's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Puppet Pals 2 ships an update every 2 months, Number Frames, by MLC every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Puppet Pals 2 versus Number Frames, by MLC: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuppet Pals 2Number Frames, by MLC
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (123 ratings) — better4.0 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews63.4% of reviews88.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings123 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 13 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.4
Further details — not scored
Size359 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPolished Play, LLCThe Math Learning Center

Customer experience

Puppet Pals 2

All ratings123 ratings
Positive76.4%
Neutral7.3%
Negative16.3%
Written reviews216 reviews
Positive63.4%
Neutral10.2%
Negative26.4%

Number Frames, by MLC

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%

Bugs and requests

Puppet Pals 2

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Saving issues causing loss of progress
  • Freezing and crashing when trying to access certain features
  • Audio and visual glitches during playback
  • Compatibility problems on newer devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more free characters and backgrounds
  • Implement better saving and autosave functionality
  • Allow for custom character creation and customization
  • Add more diverse themes and settings
  • Improve overall stability and reduce crashes

Number Frames, by MLC

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Puppet Pals 2

One-time10
  • North Pole Pack$0.99
  • Royal Hall Pack$0.99
  • Time & Tech Pack$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Saddle Up Pack$0.99
  • Vroom Vroom Pack$0.99
  • Civil Rights$0.99
  • Ptolemaic$0.99
  • Under The Sea$0.99
  • Custom Heads$1.99
  • All Access Pass$5.99
None

Number Frames, by MLC

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Puppet Pals 2 free?
Puppet Pals 2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Number Frames, by MLC free?
Number Frames, by MLC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Puppet Pals 2 or Number Frames, by MLC?
Puppet Pals 2 is rated higher. Puppet Pals 2 averages 4.1 out of 5 from 123 ratings, while Number Frames, by MLC averages 4.0 from 7 ratings.
Do Puppet Pals 2 or Number Frames, by MLC have ads?
Neither Puppet Pals 2 nor Number Frames, by MLC shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Puppet Pals 2 or Number Frames, by MLC?
Puppet Pals 2 ships an update every 2 months, and Number Frames, by MLC every 13 months. Most recently, Puppet Pals 2 was updated on September 28, 2026 and Number Frames, by MLC on September 16, 2026.

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