If the summer holidays are stretching in front of you like a life sentence, and being behind bars is preferable to entertaining your children everyday for the next six weeks, then we sympathise. And to share your pain we’ve created a comprehensive, sanity-saving feast of fun-filled cultured ideas to tide you over until school starts again.

* Oxford Playhouse There’s a fabulous line-up at the Oxford Playhouse this summer with some huge names on hand to keep your children occupied.

Take David Walliams for example. Mr Stink, his best-selling book, is being performed live on stage on Tuesday and Wednesday for ages seven+ and should have everyone in hysterics if Little Britain is anything to go by.

Mr Stink introduces the world to Chloe, who doesn’t like school very much. She isn’t as cool as the other kids. No iPhone, no DS and no friends. Then she meets Mr Stink – the local tramp. Yes, he smells a bit but he’s the only person who’s ever been nice to her…but is there more to him than meets the nose? With a free scratch and sniff booklet for everyone included in the price!

Or what about The Very Hungry Caterpillar? The infamous book by Eric Carle is coming to the Playhouse in early September alongside his other books Little Cloud and The Mixed-up Chameleon, beautifully retold with puppetry. Box office on 01865 305305.

There is also an Oxford Playhouse summer schools to contemplate, from Monday, August 8. Sorcerer’s Apprentice is being held at Magdalen College School with a week of witchcraft, wizardry, magical drama, games and storytelling for ages eight to 12. For more information, contact madeleine.vose@ oxfordplayhouse.com * THE MILL, BANBURY There’s a wealth of holiday theatre shows at Banbury’s Mill this summer as well as opportunities to try arts, crafts, drama, music, puppetry and even cartooning.

And you can start today at 2pm with Rat Tat Tat for four to eight-year-olds – a tale of friendship in which the Chinese Emperor throws a New Year party for all the animals. It’s a race to the palace. But who will take Rat a Tat Tat, the little rat?

On Tuesday the wonderfully named Garlic Theatre Company presents The Magnificent Flying Machine for the same age group. Follow the wacky adventures of Prof Bix Horn as he flies by the seat of his pants and tries to build a flying machine out of the most unlikely things.

The very next day Beauty & The Beast kicks off using music, song, puppetry and projection to play out this traditional and hugely popular fairy tale.

Other highlights include the Funky Flower Brooches and Hair Slides day workshop tomorrow for the over eights and on Monday there’s a fun theatre workshop called To Be Or Not To Be, taking old classic plays and stories and making them hip, modern and relevant.

August features more stage shows and arts sessions for children including an excellent puppetry, animation and storytelling day workshop with Jim Henson-trained expert, Tim Jones. Called The Mill Media Monkeys, this session takes place on Tuesday, August 16.

For full details of the summer programme, visit themillartscentre.co.uk or call the box office on 01295 279002.

* CHIPPING NORTON THEATRE During the summer holidays The Theatre, Chipping Norton, expects to welcome over 200 young people through its doors to participate in a range of activities. The week-long workshops offer the chance to work with theatre professionals, meet new people, gain confidence and learn how a production is created, including two drama weeks and a musical theatre week. Those eight to 12-year-olds whose parents are unable to organise transport to The Theatre, can choose from two other venues – Moreton-in-Marsh and Woodstock.

For the first three days participants will work at a venue in the town and then buses transport them to The Theatre. There is also a group based at The Theatre.

And teenagers haven’t been forgotten either. There are two fantastic and very different opportunities for 14 to 20-year-olds. From Monday, a performance of Noel Coward’s Semi-Monde, set in 1920’s Paris offers the chance to work with a professional director.

Those aged 13+ years who enjoy musical theatre, will love the Musical in Six Days on Monday, August 22, resulting in the brilliantly funny Little Shop of Horrors. Participants will work with a director, musical director, choreographer and designer and perform two shows on Saturday, August 27.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s an hour-long workshop for tinys on Tuesday, August 16 – The Orange Hat Circus Adventure with Peggotty the Hen and her other puppet friends, with well-known children’s songs puppetry and stories thrown in. For more information, go to chippingnortontheatre.com or contact the Box Office 01608 642350.

* Pitt Rivers MUSEUM AND Oxford University Museum of Natural History There are some great activities being organised at Oxford’s museums this summer from kite-making to a swap shop.

But to get you acquainted with both the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History, you could start with the summer holiday sensory trail with lots of things to see, hear, and touch.

Then, every Tuesday and Wednesday, borrow a backpack full of games, puzzles, and real museum objects, and become a family of museum explorers!

And when you’ve got the hang of things consider the following: On Saturday you can celebrate the start of summer by making your own Chinese kite and testing it out on the museum lawn at 1pm!

The following week there’s a swap shop, so get bartering in the special museum market stall and on Wednesday, August 31, play traditional board games and make terrific toys inspired by the collections.

And if the sun refuses to come out and it rains all summer, they’ve got that covered too. On Saturday, September 3, just before the schools and colleges reopen, there’s an Indian Summer day, using the two museum’s beautiful objects from India as inspiration while you listen to some Indian storytelling. Pitt Rivers and University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX13PP. 01865 613017. prm.ox.ac.uk * BURTON TAYLOR STUDIO Save the best for last. The Wright Brothers taught the world to fly.

This fast-paced whirlwind of a show tells the irresistible story of Wilbur and Orville Wright who conquered the sky, for anyone over the age of seven on Wednesday, August 31, to Saturday, September 3.

There’s also a comedy summer school Laugh Out Loud starting on Monday, August 22, about how and why we laugh. The week-long workshop explores how to make an audience laugh! Suitable for anyone with an enthusiasm for performing and cracking a joke for 12 to 15-year-olds.

Box office: 01865 305305, oxfordplayhouse.com * New Theatre, OXFORD Ever wondered how to get the show on the road? Well now’s your chance. On Saturday, August 27, for one day only, the New Theatre is opening its doors to allow you to access areas that are usually forbidden to the public.

Fun and educational, this family event offers an insight into every aspect of the theatre’s operation and answers questions like how to get a set onto the stage, how to operate the lights and sound, and the details involved in make-up and costume, while also letting you get your hands dirty with exciting, interactive events.

Tickets for the day are now on sale, priced £9, and only available on 01865 320770.

Showwise, the Oxford New Theatre Stage Experience show this year is Guys and Dolls Jr set in 1940s New York. Featuring classic songs such as Luck Be A Lady, If I Were A Bell, A Bushel and A Peck and Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat, this fantastic musical promises to be the hit of the summer when it opens on Thursday, August 18. Box office on 0844 8713020 or see newtheatreoxford.org.uk * CREATION THEATRE COMPANY Creation isn’t holding back this summer with six full weeks of theatrical and fabulous workshops for all ages.

Put on a Play in a Week, Battle with the Bard, Shakespeare with Stage Combat, Alice in Wonderland, Puppetry and Play, Musical Shakespeare, Behind the Scenes workshop, a staging of The Merchant of Venice, an Audition and Character four-day Masterclass, Shakespeare’s Tales and lastly the Antony & Cleopatra workshop. Go to creationtheatre.co.uk/education/holiday-workshops for more information.

* PEGASUS THEATRE, OXFORD From Monday Pegasus is running a number of courses during August for young people called Summer Village, including drama, rhythms & rhymes, percussion, lantern-making, theatre games, dance, music, musical theatre, comedy, puppet-making, circus, street theatre, drumming, props, urban art and electric cabaret.

Many of the classes have sold out but go to pegasustheatre.org.uk for more information.