Looking at Slater? Meet Stepping Stones Child Development Center

When people are looking at homes in Slater, there’s a question I hear a lot, and it isn’t about the house. It’s about local services, including childcare.

For a long time, that was a real challenge in a lot of smaller Central Iowa towns, Slater included. That’s changed.

Stepping Stones Child Development Center opened its full childcare center in Slater in June 2025. It didn’t come out of nowhere. Owner Elizabeth (Lizz) Umland has worked in childcare since she graduated high school, and she first opened Stepping Stones as a registered in-home daycare back in October 2016. She started planning the expansion in 2020 and spent years working through location, financing, and funding hurdles, with help from the Iowa Small Business Development Center, before the doors opened. That’s the kind of local business story I love telling.

Here’s what stood out when we visited. Their approach is play-based, so kids learn through play instead of sitting still all day. They use a continuity-of-care model in the infant and toddler rooms, meaning kids stay with the same caregivers for longer stretches and get to build real bonds with them. And they have an indoor playground, so on the days it’s fifteen below, the kids still get to run around and burn off energy.

They enroll children from 8 weeks old up to age 10.

Why does a real estate agent care about a childcare center? Because a town is more than its housing inventory. When someone is deciding whether Slater is the right fit, local services like this are part of the picture, right alongside the small-town Main Street, the High Trestle Trail, and the short drive to Ames.

If you’re curious what’s available in Slater right now, or you just want to talk through what living there actually looks like, reach out to me. And if you’d like to learn more about Stepping Stones, look them up on Facebook or contact them directly.

Thinking about buying, selling, or building in the Ames area? Call or text me at (515) 290-7950, or email sievers@c21sre.com. Seen one of my videos? Comment MATT on it and I’ll get back to you.

Matt Sievers, REALTOR®, Sievers Real Estate Team with CENTURY 21 Signature Real Estate