A fabulous toddler game when you need a break from Candyland.

If you’ll be doing some packing before you hit the road this summer, chances are you don’t want the kids to help too much, lest you end up with six pairs of socks and no pants in their suitcases. So try channeling their I can help! persistence into a game in which you have to pack away your clothes before they spill all over the place.

And it really doesn’t matter if they pack six pairs of socks into a single suitcase either.

Elephant’s Trunk is an easy-to-learn game for toddlers and their parents who will be relieved to know that each round of play zips along at a steady pace as players race to be the first to put all their clothing tokens into one of four suitcases. Let’s face it: we’ve all been burned by a never-ending game of Chutes and Ladders enough to appreciate a game that doesn’t take an hour to complete.

Young kids will get some practice matching colors, and my older kids held their breath as they rolled in the hopes of avoiding the little mouse who adds to the number of tokens you have to pack away.

Think of him as a two-year-old troublemaker who keeps dumping your packed suitcase out on the floor because it is “fun”.

For Haba fans, you may recognize this game is an awful lot like Crafty Badger. Boston-area Gamewright purchased the rights after Haba’s version was discontinued in the U.S. After some slight tweaks, this fun little game is once again available to purchase, albeit at a slightly lower price, probably due to the cardboard tokens versus the wood ones in the Haba game.

And while your toddler may not learn how to perfectly pack his own suitcase by playing this game, maybe he will at least see that no one else is packing up a rock collection in the suitcases. If my son learns this, than it’s a game well played. –Christina

You can find Gamewright’s Elephant’s Trunk at our affiliate Amazon.