The Chicago Children’s Museum is now hosting the “Aim High: Soaring With the Tuskegee Airmen” exhibit, an interactive space that encourages play as a means to learn.

Since the exhibit opened on Navy Pier, thousands of kids have used the space to imagine themselves as little pilots and learn more about Black heroes in aviation and aerospace history.

“It is an amazing opportunity for young people to be able to see themselves as astronauts, as aviators, as people who may go into careers in the aerospace industry,” said Nicholas Pearce, who is on the museum’s board of directors. “This particularly being anchored in an exhibit in Black history and Black voices in that field, is especially meaningful.”

The exhibit features mixed media such as artifacts, photos and hands-on tools like imagination mirrors, a maze and a cockpit flight trainer.

“Aim High” also features a showcase by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) called “Black Wings: American Dreams of Flight” that shares the history of African Americans who broke the glass ceiling and made great achievements in the world of air and space.

“History is past, but the future is still to be shaped,” Pearce said. “This is a place where we want play and learning to connect so that the bright young minds of tomorrow will find their place in the story of human progress.”

“Aim High: Soaring With the Tuskegee Airmen” is on display at the Chicago Children’s Museum through Jan. 20.