We partnered with some of our favorite art teacher influencers on Instagram to bring you the best 3rd grade art projects! They use a variety of media, from paint and pastels to clay and collage, and teach kids about art concepts as well as famous artists.
“I believe the art room is a joyful place where every child’s imagination can bloom and grow, with the right amount of nurturing!” says elementary art teacher Caroline M., known on Instagram as @scs.artteacher. “I love creating mixed‑media projects with my students, especially those that celebrate nature and the world around us.”
Caroline encourages art teachers to embrace a wide array of materials and supplies to encourage creativity at home and school: “In my art room, students explore a variety of materials that invite experimentation: We love using tempera paint, paint sticks, oil pastels, pan and liquid watercolors, Crayola Model Magic, and so much more. (Even basic black Sharpies provide endless creative possibilities!) My goal is to provide an environment that supports curiosity, celebrates process over perfection, and is ultimately a welcoming space where every student’s creative voice and spirit will grow and flourish.”
Explore some of Caroline’s favorite 3rd grade art projects below, along with ideas from Lauralee Chambers (@2art.chambers), another Instagram favorite, and the talented Ms. D (@art.party.with.ms.d). Visit their pages for more details and photos of each project!
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3rd Grade Art Projects
Courtesy of @scs.artteacher
String Art
With scratch art discs for the bases and coordinating yarn colors over the top, this is one of those projects that seems effortlessly cool!
These snow-covered branches are the perfect project for the colder months. Try this 3rd grade art project in the days leading up to winter break or to welcome students back in January.
Speaking of winter art projects, your students are going to love this one! Each of these snowmen can reflect the personality of the student who paints it.
The crisp clean lines of Charley Harper’s wildlife art is always a hit with kids. Take a look at his work, then personalize some of your own cardinals using this project idea from Lauralee Chambers.
Kwik Stix paint sticks and Posca markers are the secret to these incredibly colorful dinos. Students will love dreaming up the craziest possible designs.
“This was a really engaging and successful lesson for all 7 third grade classes!” Lauralee says. “I had my husband drill holes in stacks of 10 plates with a circle drill.” Students used tempera paint to color the donuts and frosting, then had a blast adding toppings of their choice from a variety of craft supplies.
Lauralee notes that this project is all about repetition and variety in size and color. “We use Black crayon to draw our circles tightly, and then fill in any spaces. Liquid watercolor paints the rest.”
This is the kind of project that will be a hit with students year after year. It’s an easy project, too, when you start with Roylco carp windsocks, then add personalization with ink daubers and construction paper eyes.
Make bird eggs from Crayola Model Magic or another kind of air-dry clay. Then, source a variety of materials like paper shreds, unraveled twine, and others so kids can build the perfect nest.
“I always love guiding young learners to see the potential beyond their preconceptions,” Lauralee notes. These turkeys are instantly recognizable as turkeys due to their shape, regardless of the kooky patterns students create with metallic markers and Wonder Stix.
These are so incredibly adorable! They also help kids develop their fine motor skills as they re-create the tiniest details in these delicious-looking miniatures.
Bring real mushrooms in for students to examine, then start their drawings with the white pencil outlines. When they’re ready, add color with metallic markers for an amazing finish.
What makes these cranes so special? Kids design their own patterned paper before folding them! Display them individually, or hang them together for a cool collaborative project.
Create a sparkling background with black paper sprayed with watered-down gold paint. Then, design and cut out paper animal designs for a cool Lunar New Year–inspired project.
Need a quick and easy project? Have kids create dog costumes! Provide doggie head photos and give a guided drawing lesson for the bodies. Then, let students have fun designing costumes for their canines.
Here’s a project that you can work on throughout the spooky month of October. Students give ghostly twists to famous pieces of art, re-created in miniature to display in their “museums.”
This project uses insect rubbing plates from Roylco for the backgrounds. Students trace or follow a guided drawing lesson to create the insect outlines. Then, they use neon and metallic oil pastels, finishing the whole thing off with sprayed watercolors.
Projects like this really bring the wow factor! Chalk pastels provide the dreamy northern lights background, while the water is made of scratch art paper. Let students choose their own arctic animal to add, like narwhals, walruses, or seals.
One of the coolest things about this project is that kids create a reusable printing plate they can bring home at the end. With a few simple instructions, they can make lots of new artwork on their own.
Start by sharing the book Wild Bios: Frida Catlo with your students. Then, teach them to create their own cats using markers, adding artificial flowers for a 3D crown.
“Origami is such a great way to teach students about perseverance,” says Ms. D. “Yes, you are going to struggle. Yes, this is going to be hard. I tell my students this is how we grow as artists. If we only do things that come easily, we can never see our true potential and what we can achieve.”
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