Clay is a good project for third graders as they are able to use their imaginations to create pottery and figurines while being messy at the same time. Clay projects also help them to develop their motor skills as they make their creations by hand. With your supervision, you might want to let your students try a pottery wheel to make pots. You can find kid-safe versions in most toy or craft stores. Allow your students to make animals, people, objects, cars or anything else they can think of. Take this opportunity to teach your students about the Mexican culture in which people used clay to create objects.
This is a useful project when starting the school year. Children can make a representation of themselves, what they feel they look like and share it with their classmates to get to know one another. Take this opportunity to teach your students about pointillism, developed by painter Georges Seurat. In this form, Seurat would paint with small dots in order to compose a portrait. Provide Q-tips and instruct your children how to use small dots to make a bigger picture. Teach them how to mix complementary colors diagonally across from each other on the color wheel and analogous colors next to each other on the wheel. Provide small mirrors so the children can look at themselves closely while painting.
Teach your students about the solar system including the stars, sun, moon and all the planets. Allow them to create their own solar system. Have them draw it on a piece of construction paper, or provide shoe boxes and Styrofoam balls for a three-dimensional project. Instruct them to paint the construction paper of foam balls based on the photos you have from every planet. They can then paint the background or shoe box to complete their project.
Just about every month of the year has an important holiday that children can celebrate. Have the students make an art project focused on that holiday or get them together as a group for one large project. For example, at Halloween, have them create a spider out of a pom-pom and pipe cleaners. Hang them around the room using pieces of yarn. At Christmas, have your students help you decorate the room. Allow them to hang ornaments, or make wreaths out of green construction paper and garlands. As Easter rolls around, provide eggs and paint and allow the children to dip the eggs into the colors.