The Art of Hand Washing – Part 2 of 3: “The Soap Dispenser”

Part 2 of three: “Soap dispenser” Continued from part 1:

Soap dispensers come in all shapes, sizes and access methods. There are disposables pumps that are kept on your counter and commercial dispensers that hang on walls. How we actually access the soap from inside the pump requires different fine motor skills that include hand strength, finger dexterity/ strength, pronation/ supination, wrist flexion/ extension, bilateral hand coordination, grading movement and more. To make things more complicated, these dispensers come in different sizes that the child has to generalize the skills too.  Let’s take a moment to appreciate all the practice and skill it takes to actually get that soap onto your hands!

Wall Dispensers:

This dispenser hangs vertically with soap dispensing at the bottom.  Check out below all the different access methods for vertical mount below (i.e. hold hand under, push, pull, single finger press, etc.).


Wall mounted automated dispenser. Requires the child to hold hand under and for soap.

Wall mounted dispensers. Requires one hand to push pump forward and the other hand is held under for soap.

Wall mounted dispenser: Soap is accessed by pushing/ moving a swivel knob and the soap drips out.

Wall Mounted Dispenser: Soap is accessed by pushing a button pump and soap drops from bottom.

Countertop Soaps and Dispensers:

These almost always require using two hands and grading movement. Again, all different access methods such as; squeezing, rubbing, rotating, pressing, pushing, etc.


Classic bar of soap: Requires two hands.

Hand soap where the child opens the lid, squeeze and turn the bottle with one hand and drips soap into the other. This is the type of bottle that mini hand sanitizers come in.

Hand pump that requires the child push down on the pump with one hand and hold other hand under to drip soap onto.

Hand sanitizer has become a staple in life. To access the liquid, the child has to take off the cap, hold the bottle in one hand and use one finger to push the pump down to spray on the opposite hand.