Nature exposure has shown favorable associations with children´s health and development. Visiting nature can provide an opportunity for families to be physically active and relieve stress in an affordable way. Even though there are scientifically proven results of the benefits of nature exposure, there is still lack of research studying the associations with family nature visits and the wellbeing of young children. The research focusing on young children is important as nature experiences in childhood may predict nature exposure as an adult.

The main research questions in Naturkraft consist of whether there are sociodemographic and mental health factors related to nature visits within families with young children, are frequent visits to nature related to children’s physical activity or other energy balance-related behavior or their nature connectedness. The research project focuses on families with children aged 2–7 years. The project uses data from the DAGIS-study conducted in 2015–16 and 2017–18, which contains data from questionnaires and behavior diaries filled by parents, as well as, accelerometer data from children. The project also uses data from a web-based questionnaire filled by parents, which was conducted as a collaboration project with Folkhälsans förbund Naturkraft-project in spring 2019. The Naturkraft research project has started in autumn 2020, and results will be published in upcoming years, 2021–23.