The first-ever Stop Shootin' Music Toy Gun Exchange Program went off with a bang Monday afternoon in Newark's Mildred Helms Park as nearly 90 plastic pistols were traded in for more kid friendly toys.

Children came in droves to exchange toy guns for more suitable objects like basketballs and Barbie dolls during the four-hour event, hosted by the nonprofit organization. The exchange, attended and backed by city council members including Mayor Cory Booker, was created to impress upon youth that guns are not toys.

"We're using music as a conduit to stop the trend of incessant gun violence," said Al'Tarik Onque, co-founder of Stop Shootin' Music, a spin-off of Stop Shootin' Inc. created in late 2010. "So we said, 'Let's start with the youth and have them lead by example.' I think it's a great first step forward."

To kick off the exchange, Onque and fellow Stop Shootin' Music co-founders Brent "Chicago Jones" Rodgers and Alfred "Pikaso" Dill performed their song "Put Your Guns Down," which preached, "Stop shootin' and think about the precious little brains you're polluting." (Watch video above.)

Kids then traded in their toy guns and selected a new toy from a trove of goodies. Cousins Troy Walker, 10, and Chrishod Walker, 9, and friend Laron Holsten, 13, went home with New Jersey Devils hockey sticks, pucks, headphones and remote-control cars.

"I think toy guns are bad because little kids get a habit and grow up and want to shoot (people)," said Troy Walker, who wants to one day become a police officer so he can "save the world."

Meanwhile, Shanae Bunn, 10, hoped to receive a new book to read to her three-year-old brother.

"Every day on the news, I hear about someone getting stabbed or shot," said Bunn, who dreams of attending Harvard to become a dentist. Bunn noted the importance of Thursday's event, saying she sometimes hears of gun violence near her home on Brunswick Street.

"Every week, someone gets killed or shot over there," she said.

In addition to a new toy, each child received an age-appropriate book donated by the Book'em Newark program, which aims to distribute 100,000 books to children in the city this year. The program's goal is to boost literacy among youth in the city, an effort South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka has staunchly supported through his own campaign this summer.

"Literacy is probably the No. 1 deterrent to crime that gets under-talked about, under-resourced, under-utilized," said Baraka, whose South Ward Reads program is ongoing. "Literacy is key. Populations of cities that have low crime have high literacy and high civic engagement."

Referring to gun culture as an "American ideal," Baraka said it's an issue that needs to be combatted through public events like Monday's.

"Violence is as American as apple pie," said Baraka. "You have to teach kids early that guns are not toys, that when people get shot, sometimes they don't get back up."

A total of four people were shot and killed in separate incidents throughout Newark last weekend, putting an end to a 20-day, murder-free period in the city. Booker announced a man accidentally shot himself Monday near Mildred Helms Park.

"This is really what our community needs," said Booker of the exchange program. "We don't just need police, law enforcement, we need really activism in our community, taking back our streets, taking back our neighborhoods."

The toy gun exchange program will continue Friday into Saturday, when Baraka and other city activists will host 24-hour peace, unity and black resistance to violence on Clinton and Treacy Avenues in the South Ward.

Once a sizable amount of toy guns is collected, Stop Shootin' will likely have a press conference to unveil the recovered fake weapons, according to Onque.

"Like the same way they do when they get the real guns, we're going to lay them all out and mark them the same way," he said. "We're going to take a picture of it: These are the guns we've taken out of the hands of children."