You’ve got to check this out…it’s meant for kids, but, really, how can you go wrong at a website that rocks noisy engine revs, animated potato chips and full-color awesomeness?

It’s a new site, ManufacturingIsCool.com, and it’s the definition of fun-while-learning.

Produced by the Society for Manufacturing Engineers, the site uses an interactive “desk” to send kids on a journey through everything from how paper, Pringles and bike helmets are made, to the ins and outs of building a concept car—and way, way beyond.

Our friends at the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) sent us the link, and we agree—it’s great to get kids excited about manufacturing. AAM is a partnership of the United Steelworkers and a group of leading manufacturers with a mission to strengthen manufacturing in the United States.

AAM Executive Director Scott Paul praised President Obama’s State of the Union bid to increase incentives for manufacturers who make goods in the United States—and hike taxes on companies that outsource. Community colleges, Obama said, should aim to train 2 million Americans with skills needed by local businesses.

As Paul told the Marketplace radio program:

We haven’t seen this amount of attention given to manufacturing by any president at least for 25 years. It gives me some hope we can translate the ideas in this speech into some practical policy solutions that will help to grow jobs.

Growing kids who appreciate what it means to make things—and make them here in the United States.

That’s a cool idea, too.

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