Easy Toilet Roll Llama Puppets for Kids

Come and make a dancing llama marionette with me today! As you know we LOVE to work with toilet paper rolls or kitchen paper rolls and make lots of fun crafts. We have made many toilet paper marionettes in the past.. our favourite of course being our dancing giraffe puppets.. but thought it would be fun to revisit these and have a go at making a Toilet Roll Llama Puppet with you today with this super cute Llama Craft for kids.

These llama marionettes use every day materials, so they are really low cost to make and also eco friendly – as youc an recycle your materials afterwards as well!

Hope you enjoy making this cute recycle llama craft with me today!

Supplies to make your Dancing Llama Marionettes:

• One kitchen paper towel tube or two toilet paper rolls per llama
• Scarps of paper in desired color for the legs and neck
• More scrap paper for llama details
• Paint in desired colors
• Pens for doodle details
• String or baker’s twine for hanging
• Chopsticks or sticks
• Glue stick
• Scissors

How to make a Toilet Roll Llama – Video Tutorial

You have a choice of my video tutorial, available here, or on YouTube. I quite like video tutorials for this kind craft, but I have also included the step photos below!

How to Make Recycled Llama Puppet – Step by Step tutorial

Here are the step by step photos showing you how to make this Cardboard Tube Llama Marionette! You MAY (!) find the video easier to watch? I can never quite decide.. ha. But you have a choice of both!

Shape your toilet paper roll into a llama head and paint

I cut my long Kitchen Paper Towel tube in two. Though you can use two toilet paper rolls too.

Take one half and make some snips into – these will be come the ears. I need to make a total of 4 small cuts (top right). Then trim the centre out.

And cut round the toilet roll, to leave just the two ear tabs standing (bottom left).

Paint your toilet paper rolls in desired llama colors. I chose light blue and white!

Cut paper strips for your llama concertina features

The llama puppet as “paper concertina legs”, sometimes also known as paper witches ladders. So first you will need to cut some paper strips! The easiest way to do this, is to fold the paper as per the images above:

Fold in half (length ways).

Fold down (top right).

Fold up again.

Use that as a guide to cut! This to make the NECK concertina. For the legs, I folded the strip in half AGAIN! So a thinner strip!

How to make a paper concertina (part 1)

Once you have 2 paper strips (top left).

Glue them together at right angles (top right).

Take one strip (bottom left) and folder OVER the corner…

… and flatten neatly (bottom right).

How to make a paper concertina (part 2)

NOw take the other strip – and fold it over the first fold you made (top left and then right).

Now bring the first strip back down (bottom left).

And the second strip also back over (bottom right).

Repeat until there is no paper left.

Now you have all your llama craft parts

You should have a little stack of folded paper (top left)….

… which you can pull apart into a kind of spring (top right).

As mentioned for the legs – I cut the strips in half again – so you had thinnner strips. And made 4 sets of concertinas for the legs.

You should now have a head, a body out of cardboard tubes, one thicker neck and four thinner legs.

Assembling your recycle llama craft

Now assemble your llama puppet.

Glue the thicker paper concertina to the bottom of the head (position the ears at the top) and add more glue (top left).

Secure the head/ neck to the body of the tp roll llama (top right).

Now glue the legs in place (bottom left and right) – making sure they are in the correct position relatively to the head/ neck of your llama marionette.

Adding llama features

Time to make your distinctive llama blanket. Fold, some white paper in half and cut a “square ish” (top left), which you then round off (top right).

When you open it up, you should have a long ish oval, that you can have fun decorating. Start from the outside and work your way in, for neatness.

Add eyes to your llama and glue the llama blanket to it’s back.

Turning your llama craft into a dancing puppets (part 1)

Now you will need to add the strings to your cardboard tube marionette. Your llama puppet will have three strings:

Secure one to the head.

And two to the llama’s back.

Turning your llama craft into a dancing puppets (part 2)

Finally, add the puppeteers sticks – tie two chipsticks or sticks together to form a cross.

Attache the two strings of the back along each end of one stick.

Attach the head to the second stick.

Finally.. add a little halter to your llama’s muzzle as a finishing touch.

Your Paper Roll Llama Marionette is finished!! Whoohoo!

If you loved this Llama Craft, you may also enjoy this collection of Llama Crafts, as well as this EXTENSIVE set of Toilet Roll Crafts for Kids: