Shortly after Aang achieved mastery, the temple elders revealed to Aang his status as the Avatar. In keeping with his people's nomadism, Aang travelled the world on Appa's back, making new friends from different nations, and becoming well-versed in their cultures and customs. On a trip to the Eastern Air Temple, Aang was given his flying bison Appa, who became a close friend and the primary mode of transportation for himself and his party. As a result, Aang achieved mastery of Airbending at the young age of twelve, illustrated by his invention of a new Bending technique: the Air Scooter, a large, moving ball of air ridden by balancing on its top. (air, water, earth and fire, respectively) As Aang grew older, the temple elders kept him ignorant of his status, and fostered his natural Airbending talent through vigorous training. These four toys-a string-powered propeller, a clay turtle flute, a wooden Hog-Monkey and a wooden hand drum - were those chosen by past incarnations when they were children, each symbolic of a given element.
In early childhood, the temple elders discovered Aang was the next Avatar when in a ritual test, he chose four specific toys out of thousands, mimicking the Tibetan Buddist ritual to find the reincarnation of the Tulku Lama. During his childhood, Aang was housed, raised and educated at the Southern Air Temple hidden in the Patola Mountain range-one of the four Air Nomad temples. Aang, the current incarnation of the Avatar, was born upon the dead Avatar Roku, the previous Avatar incarnate.