Updated on October 26, 2018
We are getting ready to take a long road trip as a family later this month. We are taking the kids to San Diego for our first real vacation! Since we live in Arizona, we are planning to drive, and it will be an almost seven hour car trip. I am trying to plan ahead for what the kids can do in the car, especially since we are surprising them with this trip and they are not going to know where we are going until we get there. I need some activities that will hopefully stop the “Are we there yet?” questions in their tracks.
My kids both love to read and look at books. I have an 8 year old that is reading 5th grade chapter books and a 5 year old getting ready to start kindergarten. She cannot read yet, but loves for me to read stories to her. It can be hard for me to read to her in the car because unfortunately, as an adult, I now get car sick if I am reading in a moving vehicle.
#DisneyStoryCentral
I wanted some way to have a lot of books accessible to both kids without bringing a lot of extra “things” along in the car. I am so happy to say that I found the perfect solution – The Disney Story Central app. Our entire family loves all things Disney. This app is great for all the Disney loving kids in your life.
First, let me tell you a little about Disney Story Central.
- Disney Story Central is the largest collection of Disney digital stories, featuring a wide array of Disney stories and characters that kids and families know and love. The cross-platform experience is available via iPhone and iPad app, tablet-optimized website and Video on Demand (AT&T U-Verse).
- Disney Story Central is designed to encourage kids to develop a lifetime love of reading.
To get started you will need to sign up for a Disney Story Central account. You can either do this online or on your iphone/iPad.
To sign up online:
Go to https://disneystorycentral.com/en-US/
Select “Login/Sign-Up” in the top right corner of the website
Enter your information and verify account
You are now set up with a Disney account!
You can also download the app through the iTunes store: Disney Story Central
Upon signing up you will receive four free tokens and a free book to get started! After that, there are two ways to purchase books.
Subscription
- The subscription service gives kids unlimited access to Disney Story Central’s expansive library of books for $7.99 a month.
A La Carte
- The Disney Book Token system helps parents empower their kids to pick out the books they WANT to read, allowing them to build their own collection of stories, featuring the characters they love.
- Tokens work like currency, in which one token is worth one book and are used to download books
I went ahead and created accounts for both kids so I can assign them tokens to purchase books. You can assign tokens under the ‘manage readers’ tab.
Each book typically costs one token. I love that I can customize bookshelves for each of my children. After you have set up his/her bookshelf and assigned them tokens, they can purchase and download books. Once the books are downloaded (via Wi-Fi or mobile data) they are accessible anytime – at home or on the go! I really love that all of the books we purchase are available to every user on our account.
Since my daughter cannot yet read on her own, she can choose to have the story read to her. She chose a princess story, Snow White, Frozen, Brave, Inside Out, and Cinderella. She chose to read Cinderella first! It is based on the new movie that recently came out. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. It is wonderful!
As the words are read aloud, the text turns red. I think this will definitely help her as an early reader to start recognizing words.
After my daughter read her first book she was excited to get stars and a trophy. My kids are big on rewards, so the stars, ranks and trophies will definitely encourage her to keep up on her reading!
My son chose Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, and Big Hero Six books. Since he can read on his own, he dove right in – we didn’t even make it to the car!
I think this app will be perfect for our long car trip to help keep the kids entertained. And as a mom, I love it, because it saves space from having to lug so many books around! We already have over 10 books in our app and all we need to bring is a tablet!
Read to get started? Go to Disney Story Central online or download it in the iTunes store.
You can even participate in Disney Story Central’s ‘Mid-Summer Light Reads’ Campaign – promoting weekly Disney reading themes — for a chance to unlock free books and enter the sweepstakes! Launching on June 11, the campaign will run through August 13.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Leave a Reply