We’ve all heard about how powerful media can be in influencing how we view ourselves, our identity, and our place in the wider world. At Mash-Up HQ, we believe it’s as important for majority kids to see diversity reflected in media as it is for minority kids to see themselves reflected in media. Here are a few of our community’s favorite sources for helping them reflect a Mash-Up world to their mashlets. 

1. Songza and TuneIn Radio

“Both offer a variety of stations in different languages and rooted in different cultures. My family lives in Honolulu, so my half-Korean hapa kids get plenty of immersion in Asian culture just by virtue of being here, but have very little exposure to their Italian roots. We listen to a lot of Italian stations, as well as salsa and cumbia. We also watch kids’ shows on YouTube: Calimero is Italian and Japanese, and Masha the Bear and Peppa Pig are both translated into Italian.” — Sandra Brigode, Korean-American, mom to Korean-Italian-American kiddos

2. Anything Sanjay Patel

“We’re big fans of Sanjay Patel‘s books [Editor’s note: The Little Book of Hindu Deities is a special favorite! We’re looking forward to his upcoming ‘Sanjay’s Super Team‘ short for Pixar, about a little Indian-American who casts the Hindu gods as super heroes, which will be released with ‘The Good Dinosaur‘ in November.” — Anuradha Vikram, Indian-American, mom to Indian-Polish-American kiddos

3. Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood

“We like ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood‘ on PBS. And ‘Oz,’ on HBO, of course.” — Emil Steiner, Czech-Jewish-American and dad to a Mash-Up Jewish kiddo

4. Anything Grace Lin

“‘Ugly Vegetables,’ ‘Thanking the Moon,’ and ‘Kite Flying,’ are some Grace Lin favorites. I try to buy a lot of used books showing different kids of color for my daughter. She may not be into all the ones I’ve bought, but as she grows older, I reintroduce them. So far she likes almost all of them.” — Sharline Chiang, Chinese-American, mom to a hapa kiddo

5. Personalized Books

“We have a personalized story book from I See Me! called ‘My Very Own World Adventure’ that uses my daughter’s first and last names to build a story. Each letter represents a different country (and each country’s page is illustrated by an artist from that country). Each child from that country gives a present that represents their country. My daughter knows the names of the kids and gifts from some of her favorite countries: Japan, Nigeria, and Australia.” — LaToya Jordan, Black-American, mom to a Black-American kiddo

“One of our favorite activities is to read our Pinhole Press book of names and faces. It’s a gorgeous, spiral-bound little book we customized with uploaded personal photos and names of our family members. Every day, our daughter sees our Irish, English-German-Swedish, Puerto Rican, Filipino faces and knows that these people and faces are important. We also love Eric Carle’s Spanish books and read over and over and over.” — Jenny Ufford, Irish-Puerto-Rican-American, mom to a quarterrican kiddo

6. Public Transportation Videos on YouTube

“We watch the Luftschlange Channel day long. It’s a series of high quality videos of subway systems around the world (still holding strong against Thomas over here). The only thing better than riding public transportation to understand diversity is to watch videos of it. Which we do. All. Day. Long.” — Mash-Up co-founder Amy, Korean-American, mom to hapa kiddo

7. Translated Books of Your Old Childhood Favorites

“My favorite book as a young child was ‘Go, Dog. Go!’ I’m as white as it gets, but I’ve got a half-Puerto Rican wife and a quarterrican daughter who we want to be bilingual. So instead of ‘Go, Dog. Go!’ I read her ‘Ve, Perro. Ve!’ Not only are we (hopefully) raising a child who feels connected to her roots, but I’m connecting to my own past while learning a new language.” — Matt Ufford, “white as it gets”-American, dad to quarterrican kiddo

What is your favorite piece of Mash-Up media to share with your kids? Tell us!