What to do in the School Holidays - part 2

How about some free things going on during the summer, all those days out can work out quite expensive.

Abingdon Museum has just reopened after a refit and the excellent cafe throwing buns has opened buns in the basement. The museum is on our to do list this summer as we haven't been since its reopened.

Ashmolean Museum, oxford, has museum pick and mix every wed and Thursday up to 16 August and a Friday tour and draw up to the 17 August. Few others things going on so have a look at their family whats on page

Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, has various family drop-in sessions and also activities for older children

Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers have joined forces with some joint events an Olympic adventure trail every day, Tuesday and Wednesday backpack activities and 23-24 August Museum Masquerades.

The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, is one of our favourite in the area, there is always lots to see and do for the children. During the holidays there are lots of activities for a small fee.

Take a splash, with the sun still shining why not take a trip to the Abbey Meadows in Abingdon or Hinksey Park in Oxford to splash in the water feature, or take your swim suits and have a dip in the pool.

Get into a book, check out whats on at your local library this summer, activities on at most libraries and they are all taking part in this summers story lab summer reading challenge

Oxford Family Sports Day 2012, will be at Bury Knowle Park, Headington on Sunday 12 August. This sounds like a great day to try something new, or watch the demonstrations.

Back to the paid things again:
Botanic Gardens, Oxford, have a different family friendly event every Thursday afternoon

Harcourt Arboretum, Oxford, has a different arboretum Olympics each Tuesday afternoon, and also from now until 2 September a geo-caching treasure hunt. Explorer backpacks are also available to borrow every day from the ticket office.

Oxford Playhouse has one production on this summer for the kids, wheels on the bus on the 13/14/15 August. Shows at the Playhouse are always excellent and this one is worth a visit with young ones.

Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford

I can't believe I haven't yet reviewed the museum we are always going to. We love going to the Natural History Museum. I remember taking my niece and nephew for the first time a few years ago, the look on their faces when they first walked in and were faced with the dinosaurs was brilliant.

The museum is well known for its dinosaurs and also the Dodo but there is so much more. You can have a quick walk round and just pick out certain bits with stuffed animals to touch, rocks to feel, a herd of animal skeletons to look at. Or you can look in a bit more detail at all the display cases and interesting facts.

A lot of people don't seem to venture upstairs, but upstairs are live bugs to look at and also a great place to look down on the skeletons and also look up to the ceiling (which is undergoing some repairs) at the amazing detail on the pillars. Little known fact: in the 1970's when doing some repair work they found a rhino skeleton on the roof.

Upstairs also contains some local history about fossils and excavations.

Currently there are 2 whats exhibitions tunning, one oak is a really fascinating life story of a tree with a cross section of the tree to look at with dates on and also a wonderful carving to look at. This exhibition runs until 27th March 2012. Another is Ghost Forest, this has been running a while and when first opened was a bit of a talking point with huge tree stumps placed on plinths on the grass out the front of the museum. Ghost Forest runs until July 2012.

Every Sunday the museum gives out explorer backpacks for family friendly fun exploring the museum.

Behind the Natural History Museum is the Pitts Rivers Museum... which is just as excellent and deserves its own review very soon.

We can easily spend from half an hour to a couple of hours going round the museum, there are toilets but no cafe. So in the summer take a picnic to University Parks or you could visit the cafes of Little Clarendon Street or the city centre. There is no car park at the museum. Admission is free.