Popular Jersey Shore beach toy exchange program expands

🏖 A beach toy exchange program in Brick expands to another beach this summer

🏖 The bin was created by fifth graders at Emma Havens Young Elementary

🏖 It's similar to the "leave a penny, take a penny" concept

BRICK — A group of Brick Township fifth graders and teachers who created a beach toy exchange bin at one beach, is proud to announce it is expanding the program this summer to include a bin at another township primary beach.

The Project

The “Take a Toy, Return a Toy” beach toy exchange bin was created by students belonging to the Fifth Grade Community Service Club at Emma Havens Young Elementary School in Brick, according to kindergarten teachers, Kristy Soltmann and Kristen Carone, who are also the co-advisors of the Early Act Club at the school.

Last year, the children were asked what kind of project they wanted to do that would allow them to give back to their school and their community, Soltmann said. One student came up with the idea of making a beach bin filled with toys because either not everyone is privileged enough to have beach toys for their children, or maybe they forgot them, or simply just didn’t want to lug all the toys to the beach.

The idea was widely accepted by everyone, and so the project began, which was student-driven.

“What is going to look like? It was all them on creating what it looked like, how do we get the materials, how can we get the donations, what’s the sign, how should we explain it, what do say to our principal, and what do we say to our town in order for us to get this going? And once we worked as a group and came up with a plan, that’s when Mrs. Carone and I took the initiative,” Soltmann said.

All of the students had the chance to decorate the bin. They painted it and drew up a map of what they should put on there. Soltmann’s dad built the toy bin, which was then presented to Mayor Lisa Crate and the town.

The toy bin was then taken to Brick Beach III in June 2023 for everyone to enjoy.
“For the rest of the summer, we had all these families who were able to use all these toys and just enjoy something that our students worked so hard on. Our students were able to see what something so little can do to make a big impact,” Soltmann said.

Parents loved it, she added. They thought the bin was amazing so they didn’t have to truck the toys and sand in everywhere. They can just borrow the toys and put them back in the bin at the end of the day.

“As the summer went on, we saw other families were donating their own things,” Soltmann said.

Similar to the “leave a penny, take a penny” concept, kids can simply take a toy from the bin to use on the beach, and return it at the end of the day. If there is a toy they would like to keep and replace it with another, that’s okay too, the teachers explained.

The Beach Toy Bin

The Beach toy bin at Brick Beach III is stuffed with buckets, shovels, footballs, baseballs, basketballs swimmies, boogie boards, and anything else the community can use.

The Expansion

Since the Brick Beach Toy Bin Exchange program at Brick Beach III was so successful last year, a second bin was created and built by Emma Havens’ fifth graders this year, which was donated to Brick Beach I, Soltmann and Carone said.

This year, the Brick Township Mayor’s Student Advisory Committee held a sand toy collection last May.

“When Mayor Crate came and saw that our school collected their own sand toys to put in the bin, she spread the word, and she reached out to her student advisory committee, and it even branched into the high school. It took off from our small collection to now being a town-wide one,” Carone said.

More sand toy donations are expected this summer, Carone added.

With the Brick Beach I toy bin, the kids once again decorated the box, painting things that are local to Brick beaches including sand dunes, sunsets, and dolphins (Emma Havens Young Elementary School mascot). Carone said the box is located to the left of the pathway leading up to the beach.

While Brick Township seems to be the first one in the state to have a beach toy exchange bin, word about it has spread to Florida. Soltmann said there is a community in Tampa that reached out to them saying they were interested in starting such a program.

As far as New Jersey, the teachers said they welcome other communities to reach out to them, and since this is their second year doing it, they are pros and can certainly offer advice and help them get started.

Soltmann and Carone are so proud of their students.

“As we approach the end of the year, we keep reflecting on just how much growth that we’ve been honored and privileged enough to see, and now working with them in a club and seeing their dreams come true and come to life, it’s really, really inspiring, even as an adult,” Carone said.

Soltmnan reiterated the fact that it was one child’s idea that made such a difference.
“It’s so amazing to see that it took one student from Emma Havens to create such an amazing project that now the whole town is getting into,” she said.

Both teachers said they are proud to see these kids looking out for their friends and their community.

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