Families searching air sound jolly phonics online are often surprised to learn that air isn’t actually one of the programme’s 42 official sounds — it’s taught right after them, as a Letters and Sounds Phase 3 trigraph, alongside ear, igh, and ure.
That doesn’t make it any less worth teaching the same way: with a clear mouth position, a memorable cue, real word lists, and plenty of practice. Most children are ready for /air/ around age five, once they’ve finished the main 42 sounds.
Where /air/ Fits After the 42 Sounds
The last of the 42 official sounds is /ar/, and /air/ picks up right where it leaves off as one of the first Letters and Sounds Phase 3 trigraphs, followed soon after by /ear/. For the complete run of all 42 Jolly Phonics sounds, see our Jolly Phonics complete guide.
The ar sound, the last of the 42 comes right before it, and the ear sound follows soon after.
How to Say the /air/ Sound
/air/ starts like the e in bed and relaxes toward an “uh,” as in hair, chair, and fair. In accents that pronounce r, it ends in a light r; in others it’s one smooth vowel.
Jolly Phonics doesn’t have an official action for /air/ since it sits outside the core 42 sounds. A simple cue that works well: wave one hand slowly through the air while saying “air, air, air” — just be clear with your child that this is our own memory trick, not an official Jolly Phonics action. For the method behind the official actions, see our guide on how to teach Jolly Phonics step by step.
Don’t Mix Up /air/ with /ear/ or /ar/
The tricky part is that the letters ear can say two different sounds: hear and near use the true ear sound, while bear and wear use those same letters to say /air/. Compare bear (air) with hear (ear) side by side. /air/ also shouldn’t be flattened into /ar/ — chair and char are not the same word.
Three Ways to Spell /air/
air is a trigraph — three letters, one sound (see our guide to trigraphs and quadgraphs for more on how these work). Three spellings are common:
- air — hair, chair, fair, stairs
- are — care, share, scare
- ear — bear, wear, pear
A Short Story for the /air/ Sound
The teacher called out “air or ground!” and held up a flashcard — a bird, a horse, a plane. Whichever team answered fastest scored a point. The class laughed and shouted their guesses until one team pulled ahead, and the teacher handed out a small treat to celebrate.
Watch the /air/ Sound
Watch the pronunciation once together, then try it side by side, pausing whenever your child wants another look at the mouth shape.
air Words: Beginning, Middle, and End
A few everyday words genuinely open with /air/:
Beginning: air, airplane, airport, aircraft, airbag
Middle: hairy, fairy, dairy, upstairs, staircase, repair
End: hair, chair, fair, pair, stairs, lair
Blending practice: h-air → hair, ch-air → chair, f-air → fair, p-air → pair, st-air-s → stairs
Watch out for: their and there — both rhyme with hair but are spelled nothing like it.
Free /air/ Worksheet and Flashcard Practice
Here’s the trigraph “air” tracing worksheet, ready to print:
For more hands-on practice, use our phase 2 and phase 3 flashcards. Lay out the air, s, t, and second s cards and see if your child can build stairs, saying each part aloud: /s/ /t/ /air/ /s/.
Finish with a short dictation of hair, chair, fair, stairs, and bear, then check together which ones truly rhyme with hair. For more on how these letter patterns map to sounds, see our phonemes and graphemes guide.
Four Quick /air/ Activities to Try Today
- Air or ground (3 minutes): Recreate the story’s game — call out objects and have your child say whether they’re usually in the air or on the ground.
- Bear vs. hear sort (3 minutes): Say word pairs and have your child point up for the air sound or cup an ear for the ear sound.
- Wave-through-the-air cue (2 minutes): Repeat the cue and “air, air, air” together three times.
- Build-a-word (5 minutes): Use the flashcards above to build stairs, then mix in other phase 2 letters to try pair and fair.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the air sound one of the 42 Jolly Phonics sounds?
No. It’s a Letters and Sounds Phase 3 trigraph taught right after the 42 official sounds, alongside ear, igh, and ure.
How do you teach the air sound?
Use a clear mouth position, a simple cue like waving a hand through the air, real word lists, and a printable worksheet, the same way you’d teach any Jolly Phonics sound.
What is the difference between air and ear?
The letters ear can say two sounds: hear and near use the true ear sound, while bear and wear use those same letters to say /air/. Comparing pairs side by side helps children hear which is which.
Why do “their” and “there” rhyme with “hair”?
English often spells the same sound in very different ways. Their and there both say the /air/ sound even though neither is spelled with air, are, or ear.
