Puppet Pals – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Puppet Pals

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

app2020

87%

WISE Score

4.1

App Store

A digital puppet theater where kids design characters, record voices, and direct their own shows—creativity required, batteries not included.

Puppet Pals

app

Everyone, 2020

87%

WISE Score

4.1

App Store

A digital puppet theater where kids design characters, record voices, and direct their own shows—creativity required, batteries not included.

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Where to Find

App Store

Google Play

Screenwise Verdict

Puppet Pals is one of those rare apps that's actually a tool, not a time-suck. It hands kids a digital stage and says "go make something," which means it lives or dies by your kid's imagination.

The interface is intuitive—customize puppets, paint them, slap on photo stickers, pick a background, hit record, and perform. Kids who love storytelling, theater, or just being goofy will eat this up. It's basically iMovie for the puppet-show set.

The catch? It requires actual creativity and effort. Kids expecting pre-made entertainment or quick dopamine hits will bounce off this fast. But for the right kid, this is gold—a legitimate creative outlet that builds storytelling chops while being genuinely fun.

The only hesitation is the murky monetization situation on this 2020 Android version. The original Puppet Pals HD had in-app purchases for extra characters, but details here are sparse. Still, the core app appears solid and the kids mode is a good sign.

Age Fit

Best for ages 5-11, especially kids who already love making up stories, doing voices, or putting on shows. Younger kids might need help with recording features, while tweens might find it a bit simple unless they're really into filmmaking or animation.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

Open-ended creative tool with no prescribed content—kids control the narrative entirely. No built-in characters or stories that could introduce inappropriate themes. The app's focus on storytelling and puppet shows encourages positive, imaginative play without chaos or manipulation.

Imaginative

This is pure creative expression—kids design puppets from scratch (customizing every limb, painting them, using photos as stickers), create custom backgrounds, record voices, and produce their own shows. It's a digital puppet theater with near-limitless storytelling possibilities. Multiple reviews highlight how engagement depends entirely on the child's creativity.

Safe

Kids mode available, and the app is fundamentally a creation tool with no social features or user-generated content exposure. However, no information about ads or in-app purchases in this 2020 Android version (the older Puppet Pals HD had IAP for additional character packs). The lack of clarity on monetization and the generic developer description raises minor concerns, but the core concept is inherently safe.

Enriching

Builds storytelling skills, voice acting, sequencing, and digital literacy. Kids learn basic animation concepts and narrative structure while having fun. Common Sense Media and educational app reviewers consistently praise it as a storytelling tool. The ability to personalize with photos adds another layer of engagement and learning.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Completely open-ended—no prescribed stories means kids invent everything from scratch, building narrative and sequencing skills
Deep customization lets kids paint puppets, use their own photos as stickers, and create custom backgrounds for truly personal shows
Records voice and sounds, turning kids into voice actors, directors, and storytellers all at once
Easy enough for young kids to navigate but sophisticated enough to keep older elementary kids engaged
No exposure to other users' content or social features—just pure creation

⚠

What to Watch For

This is a blank canvas app—kids who need more structure or pre-made content might lose interest quickly
Monetization details are unclear for this 2020 Android version; older iOS versions had paid character packs
Recording and creating shows takes time and patience; not an instant-gratification experience

Conversation Starters

"What kind of story are you telling with your puppets? Can you show me your favorite character you made?"
"Want to make a puppet show together? I'll do the voices for some characters if you do the others!"
"If you could turn any of our family photos into puppet stickers, which ones would you pick?"

Deep Dive

The "Blank Page" hurdle

The biggest thing to understand about Puppet Pals is that it provides the stage and the actors, but it flatly refuses to provide the script. In an era where most "creative" apps for kids are actually just coloring books with extra steps, this one is a true sandbox. That is its greatest strength and its most likely point of friction.

If you hand this to a kid who is used to the guided dopamine loops of most mobile games, they might stare at the screen for two minutes and ask what they’re supposed to "do." The answer is "everything." You aren't playing a game; you’re directing a film. For the kid who is constantly staging elaborate scenarios with their Lego figures or narrating their own life, this app feels like a superpower. For the kid who wants to be entertained rather than be the entertainer, it might feel like homework.

From stickers to storytelling

The real magic happens in the customization menu. While the app comes with pre-set characters, the ability to use your own photos as stickers is the hook that usually gets the skeptics on board. There is something inherently hilarious to a seven-year-old about taking a photo of the family dog, cropping it into a puppet, and making it argue with a drawing of a slice of pizza.

This is a great entry point for kids who aren't quite ready for the technical grind of frame-by-frame drawing. If your child finds the 2D puppetry here a bit limiting or they start asking how to make things "really move," they might be ready to graduate to the more robust tools in our guide to the 9 Best Animation Apps for Kids. Puppet Pals is the gateway drug for digital filmmaking because it prioritizes the performance over the technicalities of the software.

The "Gut and Butt" factor

The app’s interface is surprisingly tactile for a 2020 Android release. You can tweak everything from the limbs to the "gut and butt" of your puppets. It’s a silly phrasing that the developers lean into, and it works. It makes the "work" of character design feel like play.

Because the app records audio through the microphone, it also encourages a type of physical play that most screen time lacks. You’ll see kids doing different voices, moving their bodies to match the puppet’s frantic gestures, and essentially performing a one-person show for their tablet.

How to avoid the "one-and-done" trap

Many parents find that their kids make one video, show it to everyone in the room, and then never open the app again. To get more mileage out of it, try giving them a prompt rather than just letting them aimlessly move characters around.

Ask them to "report the news" from the perspective of their favorite stuffed animal.
Have them narrate a "how-to" video for a chore they actually hate doing.
Suggest they recreate a scene from a book they’re reading.

By giving them a specific goal, you bypass the "what do I do?" phase and get straight to the "look what I made" phase. It’s less about the final video and more about the sequencing and narrative logic they have to use to get there. It’s rare to find an app that is this high-utility without being "educational" in a way that feels boring.

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