What are the alternatives to the bunny clocks?

[Lilliput]

Are there any cheaper versions out there? Ds is 3 and pretty stubborn and not too easy to reason with, so I need something brilliant to keep him in bed past 5am.

I bought a timer for my dd's bedside light which worked for us. She broke the bunny clock on the third day by throwing it across the room in a strop when we told her to go back to bed.
I also work on the philosophy that if they are quiet and in their room it is fine.

DD1 always has a box of toys at the end of her bed to play with when she wakes up.

does she 'get it' that when the light is not on she can't come and wake you up?

We bought a wall clock for a pound from Ikea, took the paper out and put our own one back in there where we had coloured the segment from 7am to 9am in pink and put her name on it. She knew she could only get up when the "little hand was in the pink".

It worked well to be honest, she used to come running in saying "the little hand is in the pink" at 7am on the dot - which was a wonder for a 5.30 waker!

We also have a timer on a bedside light, which is known as the "getting up light". The best bit is being able to shift it at weekends . DS1 has had if from when he was 2 and got the hang of it straight away. Now we don't use it all the time, just when he goes through phases of early waking.

YES! You lot are brilliant. Have been thinking this for ages, there must be a 'simple' solution. Dd (2) is fine if I SAY it's too early and we need more sleep (well, with a "check time, mummy!") but I still have to be there iykwim. And you can understand her logic that it's bloody bright daylight with birds cheeping at about 4.30 now so why shouldn't she get up??!!

So much better to spend a few quid on a plug in timer that £20 for one of those sodding bunny clocks. The general consensus is that they are pretty easy to break anyway. Brilliant common sense as usual from lovely mumsnetters.