Community Alumni
May 24, 2017My daughter moved up to the top bunk when she was 4 and we used pool noodles to prevent her from rolling out of the bed. The standard size pool noodle is enough to keep them in. I tested it out myself and it would keep me in the bed. If you're really worried then you can use the really fat noodles. They'd have to climb over those.
You can easily build a ladder out of PVC. All you need is some pipe, tees, and maybe a few caps. You can just pressure fit the joints and skip the glue. 1" pipe should be plenty strong for a 5 year old. Attach the ladder with a few 2 hole conduit straps.