Education was probably for the most part informal. Children learned
their adult roles by watching adult activities and by being
encouraged in their attempts to copy. Such practical skills for
survival as swimming were taught at an early age.[461] Little boys
played at shooting toy bows and arrows.[462] Girls played with
miniature cooking pots, and they also participated in the work of
planting and tending the fields as soon as they were old enough.[463]
An education in the beliefs and values of the Wampanoag people was
gained in part by listening to the stories told by parents and
grandparents.[464]