An 11-year-old girl from 100 Mile House, B.C., is recovering in a Vancouver hospital after a science project involving gunpowder went terribly wrong.

Presley Peterson suffered second degree burns to her face, neck, arms and hands after her science fair experiment burst into flames.

The experiment was meant to show the effects of smoking on the body, and for the physical portion of the project, Presley had drawn a large picture of a pair of lungs on poster board.

The idea — inspired by a video she found online — was to trace the veins in the lungs with gunpowder, which she would then light, turning the model black in a flash.

"We practised it all week, we did it over and over again," Karen Peterson, Presley's mother, told Daybreak Kamloops' Shelley Joyce.

Presley Peterson suffered second-degree burns after a science experiment involving gunpowder unexpectedly ignited. (Karen Peterson)

But when they went to film the experiment last week for the final presentation, the airborne particles of gunpowder ignited.

"It just blew up in the air… I could never have perceived that something like this would go horribly wrong," she said.

Recovering in hospital

Presley is under the care of doctors at B.C. Children's Hospital where Peterson has relocated to care for her daughter.

She has been told Presley's facial burns are expected to heal with minimal scarring but she may require skin grafts for the burns on her arms.

Experiments online

Science experiments found online can be exciting, but may not be appropriate for kids, said Joon Kim, president of Mad Science, Greater Vancouver and Interior, which offers educational programs and shows for kids.

"You can do a lot of experiments with just regular safe household items … You don't need hydrochloric acid. There's experiments where simple orange juice or lemon juice or vinegar, they're things that you can use for an acid," Kim said.

A popular experiment Kim has seen online is making polyurethane foam, which is a mixture Mad Science creates in its live shows. But Kim said he would not advise kids to try it at home.

"The fumes are really, really bad … basically what happens is you mix manganese dioxide with hydrogen peroxide and basically it bubbles up," he said.

He recommends having the parents handle caustic or flammable substances if there's risk involved.

Family visits are helping keep Presley Peterson's spirits up as she recovers from second-degree burns to her face, neck, arms, and hands. (Karen Peterson)

The 100 Mile House community has started a GoFundMe campaign to help Peterson, a single mother, with expenses that include parking, food, lodging and rent back home.

They've exceeded their goal of $20,000 in just over a week.

Peterson said they're trying to keep Presley's spirits up with letters and prayers from schoolmates and community members.

"The biggest thing we've learned is it's really about your mindset, you have to be able to distract your mind from the pain.

"When you see your kid in pain and you can't do anything about it, it rips your heart out. Even if we don't feel strong we have to show our children that we are strong, that we're warriors and that they are too … We're calling her our little soldier."

Peterson urges others to be wary of online science experiments that kids often watch and then try to replicate at home.

With files from Yvette Brend and Daybreak Kamloops