The present study evaluates how a stay in a summer holiday camp changes children’s willingness to
display ecological behaviour and the affective and cognitive factors that may be responsible for this
change. The study included two types of nature camps, one with an Environmental Education (EE)
program and one without it, with an urban camp without EE as an additional control group. Nature
experiences increased children’s emotional affinity towards nature, their ecological beliefs, and willingness
to display ecological behaviour. No differences were found between the nature camps with and
without EE. Emotional affinity towards nature and ecological beliefs independently mediated the direct
effect that exposure to nature has on children’s ecological behaviours, the strength of each mediator
differing according to the type of ecological behaviour