My parents own an alpaca farm in Alabama, Blackberry Hill Alpacas, and are often asked what the difference is between alpacas and llamas. I designed two adorable puppets to make it easy for kids to quickly spot the difference. Alpacas have short straight ears, whereas llamas have long banana shaped ears that turn in.
Alpacas and llamas have become very popular in recent years, but people often confuse the two.
Alpacas vs. Llamas
What‘s the difference you might ask? Plenty. Alpacas weigh on average about 150 ponds, while llamas can weigh as much as 500 pounds. I bet you just said wow. Llamas are much taller than alpacas as well and they are generally used as pack animals. Alpacas are bred for their fiber.
Fun Facts:
A baby Llama or alpaca is called a cria.
Alpacas have fiber, not fur and it is hypoallergenic.
There are 22 colors of alpaca fiber.
There are 2 types of alpacas: suri and huacaya. A suri looks like it has dreadlocks because of its long fiber. A huacaya looks like a teddy bear.
Now that you know a little more about alpacas and llamas, let’s make some. Follow the tutorial below to make your own huacaya alpaca and llama puppets.
What You’ll Need:
Brown paper bags
Brown construction paper
Scissors
Print this alpaca template
Print this llama template
Glue stick
Brown and pink markers
How to make alpaca and llama puppets
Place the paper bag down flat with the bottom facing up. Now cutting out the pieces from the alpaca and llama templates. Then simply glue the pieces on to the paper bag. I recommend gluing the head to the bottom of the bag first. Then glue the ears on followed by the top knot (bangs).
All that’s left is to draw a few squiggly lines on the paper bag to be the fiber and perhaps color some pink cheeks. That’s it. Now you have some very cute alpaca and llama puppets.
Share in the comments who you made the puppets with. Was it with your children, a 4-H group or Scouts?
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