An illuminated protective headgear (10) has an inner core (11) of resilient cushioning material with cavities (18a, 18b, 19a, 19b), an outer shell (12) with portions overlying said core (11) with windows (13) that are clear to translucent or open and are of graphical configuration disposed on opposite sides of the headgear (10), and a power circuit supported by said inner core with lighting panels (44) having light sources (21–23, 25–27, 21a–23a, 25a–27a) disposed in the cavities (18a, 18b) so as to be viewed through a respective window (13), and timing circuitry for timing the on-off sequence of the lights, so as to create an effect of motion of the illumination within each window (13). Several embodiments are disclosed.