3-yr-old waking way too early, taking himself downstairs

[Lorien]

This morning I found my (nearly) 3 year-old downstairs and 40 minutes into a Maisy Mouse DVD. He had woken (I guess around 5) and just taken himself downstairs and put on the TV.
Obviously, I wasn't overly impressed at the safety implications of this (various visions of kitchen knives/drinking bleach/electric shocks from the toaster spring to mind) and so I have now got a stairgate at the top of the stairs so he can't wander around by himself downstairs at night.
But I fear the underlying problem is that he is now starting to wake regularly at 5 in the morning. I really dont want to be getting up at that time, so what should I do?
Secure his bedroom door so he can't come out until I go and get him?
Put more toys in his bedroom in the hope he will play in his room by himself for an hour (or two?)
Start a star chart?

All suggestions gratefully received. Thanks, Lorien

Mine started that at 3 and a half.

Fantastic!
I put a curfew of 6 am on it and gave him a digital clock.

I have read somewhere on here that you can get a "bunny alamn clock" - where the ears pop up at a set time - and they must not get up before then.

At least they didn't come and wake you up to put the video on!!

I had that too. Both work. I would be pleased and hide the knives.

What time does he go to bed? if it's not already too late perhaps you could try keeping him up a little longer in the evenings.

Lorien, Does your ds have an afternoon nap still? My ds2 who is 2.4 started waking around 5 some months back. This went on for an eternity (about 4 months) until we cut his daytime nap back to just 1 hour. We have now had two weeks of him sleeping till 6:00 or later, which i find bearable, although 7:00 would be nicer !

He will be going into a bed from his cot in two weeks and after reading your post i'm a bit worried he might start going downstairs too. It never occured to me he might do this as ds1 NEVER ventured out of bed until we came to get him. I don't think it ever occured to him that he could ! Now ds1 always comes up to us first (we sleep in the converted loft), but ds2 is a little monkey and is quite capable of allsorts.
Oh, how glad am I that dh took all our stairgates off last week ?!

Can you put him to bed later?

i agree re the sleep, but some are just born early

I have baby gates so they cant get anywhere

My ds2 at 2 years old started doing this so I reckoned the best bet was to just go with the flow and have the video ready to play at whatever ungodly hour he decided to get up. He was obsessed with Barney at the time and soon got fed up and decided after a couple of weeks that a lie in was preferable. Obviously you dont want to get up at such an early hour or have him yelling the house down because he cant get about so if the stairgates dont work then perhaps let him try it for a while. He may well get bored if it is pitch black outside and there is no one to play with. I have to say though, good on him for his ingenuity in not bothering you and just sorting himself out.

Thanks for all the advice. I've kept him really busy today, swimming and playing with friends and running in the park. I hope that a good bout of tiredness might do the trick and keep him in bed a little longer. At least the stairgate at the top of the stairs seems to be working -- he can come into our room if he wants, but can't get downstairs....

Don't wish to cause panic but my DS is only 26 months, has a dodgy leg....and can easily climb over a stairgate.

Also read of an incident where an enterprising 3 year old was kept in the dark to deter him from playing, was found playing happily in the light of the fridge-freezer door with the food melting in puddles around him!They really don't want you to win, do they?