Any tips please on how to get 5yo to go to sleep earlier?

[Olivia789]

My 5yo has always been a great sleeper, typically has slept 7.30pm - 6.30am without fuss since age 1.
However the last few weeks he is taking longer and longer to go to sleep. It's now 9.25pm and he is still up, wide awake and this is the 4th night of the same. He's not bothering us as such, we don't don't know he is up till we go upstairs and realise he is just sat playing. We have taken his lamp out so he is now sneaking his light on. He is still getting up at 6.30am.
He doesnt get much screen time - doesn't own any tablet/ games consoles etc. He watches TV while i cook dinner till 6ish then tends to play and have a bath till bedtime at 7.30.
Does anyone have any advice as he is bloody knackered come 6.30am 🙄

Would he be more sleepy if you kept him downstairs til 8? Mine used to sleep better if they were tired when they got in bed. If they weren't they'd faff about for hours.

Mine is similar at the moment, I've started letting him listen to an audiobook when he goes to bed. The Boy, The Fox, The Mole and the Horse (currently available on the BBC sounds app) knocks him right out.

They knock me out too!

Mine has just gone to sleep. Half 9 would be a very good night here.

Is he in school or starting in august? My 5 yo starts in aug and I'm hoping it will tire him out. We're in Scotland and I know they're in earlier in England.

As suggested above, audio books worked for mine.

I agree that pushing bedtime back to say 8 or 8.15 might work. If he’s not tired enough at 7.30 and gets bored trying to sleep he’s more likely to get up and then get a second wind. I’d go for a slightly later bedtime in the hope he’s definitely tired by then.

Do you need to be up at 6:30? I have a lark (now 8) who is out like a light at 8 and wakes any time after 5:30 and always has and an owl (5) who goes to bed at 8 but unless exhausted falls asleep about 9 and wakes about 7:30.

Me and DH get up at 6.30 and the second he senses us he is up like a shot!
He tends to go till around 7.15 on weekends.
Thank you for all the suggestions, I will definitely try the audio books and the later bedtime too tomorrow, I think we have jist got so used to 7.30pm I forgot that this would eventually need to be pushed back.
Yes he is at school, he's been in since September

Potentially a stupid question but how do they listen to audio books? Everything I think we have here would mean he would have access to YouTube!

I did it old school @Olivia789 and got cd's from the library for a portable cd player.

We listen on an Echo Dot in their room on Audible but you can get audiobooks from the library on Borrowbox

I think my 5yr okd has naturally crept a bit later, so we are usually saying goodnight around 8. She sometimes protests and that’s usually on DH nights where he tries to have it all done and dusted by 7.30! Maybe you can make a bit of a fuss about the idea of staying up a little later, he could use the extra time for a wee play or pre bed ritual. We also do a bit of meditation, as she finds it hard to wind down if she’s got stuff from her day in her mind.

My wee one is the same and qudiobooks helped here too. For listening to them with no distractions we got a Yoto player, they're brilliant! I have a referral code for a tenner off, if anyone wants it just DM me :)

Mine listens to stories through my audible account, we have a spare old iPhone with the account logged in so I'll put the story on and leave the phone on a shelf. The story just finishes at the end, by which point he's fast asleep. There are lots of 'players' you can buy specifically for kids stories, my MIL is adamant that we need a Yoto, but the crappy old phone works fine.