Christmas craft ideas for a third-grade class need to use slightly more advanced techniques than crafts for young kids, but keep the process shorter than crafts for older kids. Third-grade students are in the middle area as far as skill and patience are concerned. The kids are too skilled for simplistic crafts, but too impatient for anything that involves a long list of steps.

Clay Pot Snowman
Third-graders can create a decorative snowman for their family made out of a clay pot, wood ball, felt and paint. Each child paints a small clay pot and a small wooden ball white. Glue the ball to the bottom of the pot to create a basic snowman shape. The children can draw a face and buttons on their snowman with colorful craft paint. Other decorations can include a felt scarf, yarn-tied felt tube hat or pom-pom and felt earmuffs.

Feather Christmas Tree
Combine green feathers, a Styrofoam cone and assorted decorative accents for a third-grader's Christmas craft. Each child covers a Styrofoam cone with rings of glue and green feathers, starting from the bottom and working up to the top. Decorations for the dried feather tree can include bead, sequin or glitter ornaments and ribbon, yarn or string garland.

Felt Stocking
Let imaginations run wild with a simple stocking craft that third-graders can decorate however they want. Each child cuts a pair of stocking shapes from green felt. The children sew the front and back of the stocking together with a plastic needle and thick red yarn. Decorations can include puffy fabric paint, fabric paint, beads, sequins, pom-poms, buttons and ribbons. Decoration themes can include a puffy fabric tree with bead ornaments or a painted reindeer with a red pom-pom nose.

Hand Christmas Wreath
Third-graders can create their own leafy Christmas wreaths using green construction paper and glue. Each child traces his hand ten times on green construction paper and cuts out each hand. The children glue the overlapping palms of their ten hands together in a circle to form a wreath shape. Additional decorations can include red paper berries and/or a red ribbon bow.

Paper Plate Reindeer
Creative use of construction paper, paint and paper plates provides an amusing reindeer craft for third-graders. Each child paints a paper plate brown for the face and cuts two traced hand shapes from brown construction paper for the antlers. A brown construction paper cone with a red pom-pom on the tip forms the nose. The antlers secure to the top of the plate and the cone secures to the middle. Painted black eyes and a pink mouth finish the reindeer's cheerful face.

Santa Lid Ornament
Recycle large plastic or metal jar lids into a Santa ornament craft for third-graders. Each child paints a lid white with large black eyes, rosy cheeks and a big pink smile. A red pom-pom forms Santa's nose and white felt forms a mustache and beard. A red felt triangle with a white-pom-pom on top forms Santa's hat. A green ribbon loop on top of the lid provides a way to secure the ornament to the tree.