Parts of the Pitt Rivers Museum are a little ghoulish (shrunken heads, ritual and magic objects), but if your child can handle that, it is fascinating-- organized according to the subjects the collectors were interested in (i.e., there's a big section on tattooing and another on opium pipes, if I remember right). What I liked most about it was its old-fashionedness; the labels were in the faded handwriting of the collectors, and everything is jammed in, over the top, canoes hanging from the ceiling. I was expecting the Ashmolean to be that way, and most of it had been tidied up.

I think Pitt Rivers is in the same building as the dodo, so you could do both.

Thanks, everyone. Maybe we can pop in to see the dodo and have a visit at Pitt Rivers. All depends on how the day goes and what is open as far as colleges and specific walking tour times. Blackwells sounds interesting too.

As far as punting if the weather cooperates, is the location by the Magdalen bridge?

Have you picked out a walking tour from the TI office yet? Look at their website and pick a tour (we pre-ordered tickets, too, and picked them up at the TI office); that might help you plan your day. (Maybe you already did this) I would assume the Library tour is at a specific time, too, so those two tour times might dictate a lot about your day. (I have NOT looked at every College website, but I think generally they aren't open to the public until after noon at the earliest, on the days they are open. I had excellent response via email from the colleges I contacted about definite dates and times of opening.)

If you walk north to the Parks and then stroll across to the river you will find a small boat house with punts which I "think" are available to the general public (anyone else know? I've never used them so they could be a college punt store). If they are; the punt up the Cherwell (not the Isis, which is what the Thames is called in Oxford) to the Pub is relatively easy. If you go South however you get the chance to punt past various colleges, a punt slide (oh the fun you can have in that) and even a little white water punting where the canalised upper Cherwell gushes out onto the lower Cherwell

There are rentable punts under Magdalen bridge and others (ownership not known to this guy) a the bridge over the Isis upsream of Christchurch

Though you can rent punts elsewhere, I've only ever gone to the Cherwell Boathouse http://www.cherwellboathouse.co.uk/

Not entirely sure why I always go back to the same place. Habit probably - plus the restaurant which has been very good the couple of times I've eaten there.

janisj, that's the place on the parks

My advice would be: Have a plan "B". My grandmother and I spent two days in Oxford in May 2011, though the jet-lagged arrival day was spent at Blenheim Palace and Woodstock mostly. The 2nd day was devoted entirely to Oxford and my plan was as follows:

Explore Oxford/Walk around looking at all the fabulous architecture
Christ Church College - Self Guided Tour
Climb Anglo Saxon Tower at St. Michael at the North Gate church
Lunch
Bohdleian Library ( Exhibit on 500 years of King James Bible )
Explore Oxford some more, making our way to Magdalen College (C. S. Lewis)
Tour Magdalen College
Have dinner at Eagle and Child pub (Inklings: C. S. Lewis/J. R. R. Tolkien)

It all went according to plan apart from Magdalen Collenge, which was closed that day for a private function. There was no way on earth that this could be anticipated in advance! Unfortunately I didn't know any of the other colleges were open at that hour (4pm onwards) to tour around, Magdalen was supposedly open 2pm-6pm. So in the end we walked around and looked at Merton College from the door (Tolkien) and made our way to Queen St. There we shopped for a while before heading back to the Eagle and Child for a fish n chip dinner. A very full, satisfying day but a backup plan would have been helpful regarding Magdalen:/.

Hope you have a wonderful day in Oxford!

No, I haven't pre-booked a public tour yet. I had thought the dates were too far out in the future, but now I see they have dates posted for the summer. We are interested in the regular university tour either at 10:45 or 13:00.

For the Bodleian, the only tour you can pre-book is for the extended tour at 9:15 otherwise it is first come first serve on the day. So still undecided on what to do here.

Thanks for the link on punting.

As far as visiting colleges and museums we have to see what we are up to that day and what is open. Thanks Irishwhislter90 too. We will have a list of potential colleges, and check their websites prior to see if they are closed for a private party or open to visitors for that day.

Thanks again, all!