Chicago families are about to get a new reason to say goodnight to the moon in person. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry will open an immersive exhibit based on the beloved 1947 picture book Goodnight Moon on Thursday, with the main space recreating the story's Great Green Room through digital imagery and interactive technology that lets visitors become part of the scene.
A Storybook Room Comes To Life In Hyde Park
The exhibit opens in Griffin Studio next Thursday, as reported by CBS Chicago, and will surround visitors with the sights, sounds and characters from Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's classic tale. According to Griffin MSI, the exhibition opens in Griffin Studio on Thursday, Nov. 5 and closes on Sunday, Jan. 3, giving families roughly two months to experience it. Inside the main space, visitors can digitally paint the story scene around them, turning the Great Green Room into something that shifts and responds to their touch, per CBS Chicago's reporting.
The Supply + Demand studio built the experience in collaboration with HarperCollins Publishers, according to the CBS Chicago report. Supply + Demand describes the project in its own terms, noting that Goodnight Moon brings storytime to life, plunging visitors into an immersive experience through Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's classic tale, according to supply-demand.ca. The studio's materials also credit Telus Spark Science Center in Calgary as a co-producer on the project.
Sleep Science Meets Space Exploration
Beyond the recreated bedroom scene, the exhibit includes information about sleep, dreams, nightmares, lunar cycles and how astronauts sleep in space microgravity, according to CBS Chicago. That science-of-sleep framing isn't new to the Goodnight Moon concept: when a version of the exhibit appeared at Calgary's TELUS Spark Science Centre, the digital experience was described as part of a broader initiative about the science of sleep, according to Smithsonian Magazine. That Calgary installation ran through February 2023 and used a 3,000-square-foot pixelated space with animated set pieces and wall and floor projection technology, Smithsonian reported, taking visitors through the entire story from start to finish during an eight-minute presentation that they could experience repeatedly once it began.
The Chicago version also ties the moon theme to Griffin MSI's own collection. CBS Chicago's report mentions the Apollo 8 Command Module, used to orbit the moon, as part of the connection the museum draws between the storybook and real space history. Griffin MSI's description of its Henry Crown Space Center confirms the Space Center features iconic artifacts, such as the Apollo 8 Command Module, giving the lunar tale a real-world counterpart just steps away.
Eight Decades Of Saying Goodnight
Goodnight Moon first hit shelves on September 3, 1947, and will mark its 80th anniversary in September 2027, according to CBS Chicago. In the decades since, the book has been translated into more than 25 languages and has sold more than 40 million copies, Smithsonian Magazine reports, cementing its place as one of the most enduring bedtime stories in American publishing.
The exhibit's run overlaps with another long-running Chicago tradition. Griffin MSI's Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light exhibit kicks off the holiday season on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, and runs through Monday, Jan. 3, 2027, per Griffin MSI, meaning the two exhibits will share the museum floor for nearly the entire run. That holiday display features more than 50 trees and displays, each lovingly decorated by community volunteers, along with displays representing international seasonal celebrations of light, like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Diwali, according to the museum. The tradition traces back to 1942, when it started as one tree to represent unity during World War II.
CBS Chicago's report also points to other exhibits scattered throughout the museum that visitors might stumble upon during a holiday-season visit, including a cow painted like a $20 bill, an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, Wonder Woman, the Blues Brothers and Wild Onion Brewery arranged around model trains. The Goodnight Moon exhibit is included with general admission, according to CBS Chicago, meaning families won't need a separate ticket to step into the glowing green room before heading off to see the trees.
