Blowing out birthday candles is a surprisingly good way to practice the phonics f sound, since the sound itself is just a long, steady stream of air. f is the fifth sound in Jolly Phonics Group 3 (g, o, u, l, f, b), and children typically learn it in Reception or kindergarten, around age four to five, after l.
Here is how to say the phonics f sound correctly, the official Jolly Phonics action, genuine beginning, middle, and end word lists, four quick activities, and a free tracing worksheet to print.
Making the /f/ Sound the Right Way
f is a voiceless, continuous sound: rest your top teeth gently on your bottom lip and blow air through the gap. There is no voice at all — your throat stays still — and because it is continuous, you can stretch it out for as long as your breath lasts: ffffff.
The Jolly Phonics action is to let your hands gently come together as if a blow-up fish is slowly deflating, saying ffffff as your hands meet. A quick cue song helps: sing “the fish is letting out its air, ffffff, ffffff, going nowhere” to any simple tune while your hands drift together.
f is often confused with v, its voiced twin — fan and van are made in exactly the same place in the mouth, but v buzzes and f does not. Have your child hold a hand to their throat and compare the two. f can also be confused with th, as in fin versus thin; for f the teeth touch the lip, while for th the tongue tip pokes out between the teeth.
Download the Free Jolly Phonics 42 Sounds Chart
Get all 42 Jolly Phonics letter sounds on one free printable chart PDF — in teaching order with an example word for every sound.
A Short /f/ Story: Danny’s Birthday Candles
It was Danny’s birthday, and the whole family gathered around the cake his dad had carried in that morning. His mom lit the candles, turned off the lights, and started the song. “Time to blow them out, Danny!” everyone cheered. “Ffffff, ffffff,” he tried, but his breath was still short. He took a bigger breath and tried again, “ffffff, ffffff,” and this time every candle went out. Everyone clapped for the birthday boy.
Watch and Listen to the /f/ Sound
Four Quick /f/ Activities
Fish-breath warm-up (2 minutes): practice the deflating-fish action together, stretching out ffffff for as long as each breath lasts before searching the room for anything starting with f.
Listen and mark (3 minutes): use the sheet below and say a list of words, having your child mark true only when they hear /f/.
Trace it (5 minutes): the tracing sheet is in the worksheet section below — say ffffff softly while tracing each letter.
Blend with flashcards (5 minutes): lay out the three cards below and build words like fan and fun, sounding out each letter first. For more combinations, grab the full flashcards in pdf printable designs.
Genuine /f/ Words: Beginning, Middle and End
Beginning:
- fan
- fish
- fit
- fun
- fig
- fox
Middle:
- coffee
- muffin
- buffalo
- afraid
- sofa
- before
End: each word below really ends with a spoken /f/, with no silent letters standing in the way.
- leaf
- off
- cliff
- puff
- golf
- staff
Blend it:
- f-a-n → fan
- f-i-t → fit
- f-i-n → fin
- f-u-n → fun
Watch out: the word of looks like it should end in the /f/ sound, but it is actually said with a /v/ sound — point that one out early, since it trips up a lot of beginning readers.
Ways to spell it: for now, teach just f, as in fan, fish, and leaf, plus double ff straight after a short vowel at the end of a word, as in off, cliff, and puff. The ph spelling in words like phone comes much later.
Free /f/ Tracing Worksheet to Print
Once tracing feels easy, head over to our Letter F f Tracing Worksheets page for more.
/f/ in the Jolly Phonics Teaching Order
f is the fifth sound of Jolly Phonics Group 3 (g, o, u, l, f, b), taught after the /l/ sound and just before the /b/ sound, the last sound in the group. See the full teaching order in our Jolly Phonics complete guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the phonics f sound?
The phonics f sound is the voiceless, continuous sound heard at the start of fan and fish and at the end of leaf and off. It is the fifth sound taught in Jolly Phonics Group 3.
How is the /f/ sound different from /v/?
f and v are made the same way, with the top teeth on the bottom lip, but v is voiced and f is not. Feeling the throat while saying fan and then van shows the difference clearly.
Why is the word of tricky for the /f/ sound?
Although of is spelled with an f, it is actually pronounced with a /v/ sound, which can confuse children who are just learning that f usually says /f/.
What age do children usually learn the /f/ sound?
Most children learn it in Reception or kindergarten, around age four to five, as the fifth sound in Jolly Phonics Group 3.
