Kids can fall on a flat concrete slab too. My 4 year old grandson did that just the other day on our patio. I don't think there is any way you can child proof all surfaces to avoid skinned knees.

It can happen with wooden steps too. I think the greatest danger would be wet concrete after a rain. You can get an outside concrete paint to make it less slippery

If I understand this correctly, the slab drops off along an edge. The bigger danger in that case is not the step so much as the rest of the edge. People,even kids, generally handle steps well, but other edges can take them by surprise. Planting along those edges give a visual cue that the edge is there whether it is from below or above and whether looking at it directly or in the perifery.

The slab drops off about 12" to the play area which will be grass or mulch. Therefore I'm going to build a wide step to transition to the play area.

I'm mostly concerned with kids running in the play area, tripping - and then busting their head against the concrete step or slab edge. So I was looking for a way to soften the edge either with padding, or a different material for the step.

Maybe getting rid of the step along most of the slab and installing a guard rail fence would be a safer idea.

... short of putting helmets on the kids 24x7?

Build the step to standard dimensions, because the kids are going to grow eventually.

Marking most of the edge with planting material to give them a visual warning, and changing the play surface texture near the edge to give a tactile warning is what playgrounds do.

And "tripping" most often happens when the play area is untidy, develops holes, or needs mowing. Keep it maintained.

Planting with height tends to make running occur a few feet away. It is psychological, much like peeple not driving close to a wall or fence when it is close to a road, but will cruise right along next to a 6" curb. The idea is to coax the activity away rather than accepting the accident and looking to minimize the damage.

How much area do you have there? I think I nice low hedge of Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon holly) would be a good visual cue. It's stiff enough to handle the occaisional basketball and soft enough not to take an eye out if kid falls into it. And the %$&*@$! deer leave it alone.

'Bordeaux' is a nice cultivar...though it might get too tall. I saw a nice dwarf at work today...'Stokes Dwarf'. It's slow growing, so should be easy to keep in bounds. I'll link NC State's page on it. You can get to the 'Bordeaux' info on the same site. Either should do well in your area.

melanie

Here is a link that might be useful: Stokes Dwarf

It would be good to think about how broad the step is and the rise. I think you can do that and still stay in some kind of standard dimensions that people relate to. What I think--but I may be wrong--is that if it is a step you are going to go up and down many times, do not make it too narrow, so that you have to put your foot sideways-ish. I'm also wondering (someone can shoot me down here) if there are different principles for steps in which you just take one step down and then hit the yard and stride on. I'm thinking you can use a broader step in that situation 'cause you (if you have eyesight) will start lengthening your stride a bit, as opposed to how you negotiate a flight of stairs, plus you aren't as limited spatially as you are for typical flights.

But, the stair engineers on the forum will be of more help.

Twalkman,

I happened to be a board certified step engineer and would like to know a few things for crystal clarity. Is there a step from the deck to the slab and a step from the slab to the ground. If so what is the vertical height from the deck to the slab? This input is needed for me to finish my extremely complex calculations. Thanks and Aloha

This is a valid concern. The problem is a child felling on a hard, rough edge can cause injury to mouth, head, etc. It can result in a concussion, stitches, loss of teeth... I know of a child that just recently ran, tripped, and hit her mouth on a steel step on a toddler indoor playground. She ended up with 3 loose teeth - 2 will recover but the 3rd cannot be saved. Regarding a flat cement surface, yes, even on this a child can still get hurt but an edge is like a wedge and can cause more injury. I am researching this myself. I have cushioned edges and corners on my fireplace hearth but these are not rated for outdoors. Will continue to look for the same protection but for outdoors.

Did anyone come up with a solution on how to soften the edge of outdoor brick steps? My toddler fell face first into ours this week and I am thanking God it wasn't worse! He must have somewhat caught him self because he didn't have more than a minor cut but a large swelled bruise popped up on his forehead. He was with the babysitter so I didn't see it happen.

Get a piece of ply wood the size of the stairs (maybe a tad bigger) then cover with thick memory foam and material and just lay it on the bottom