Final answer:
Preschoolers aged 3-5 can generally follow two to three-part instructions, and their ability to follow directions improves as they develop cognitively and psychologically. However, this ability varies among individual children and depends on their familiarity with the tasks and context.
Step-by-step explanation:
The total amount of steps or directions a preschooler, which refers to children aged 3 to 5 years old, can successfully follow varies based on their developmental stage. At this age, children exhibit cognitive growth and symbolic thinking which enables them to understand basic commands and follow simple instructions. Generally, they can manage to follow two to three-part instructions, such as "Pick up your toys, put them in the box, and then wash your hands." The ability to execute such tasks is part of the preschoolers' cognitive and psychosocial development that progressively improves as they mature.
Around three years of age, children become capable of speaking in short sentences and can understand and act upon simple directions. By four years, they have nearly intelligible speech and begin using the correct past tense of verbs, which suggests an improvement in their ability to understand and act on more complex directions. However, it should be noted that every child develops at their own pace, and their capacity to follow instructions can be influenced by various factors, including how familiar they are with the task and the context in which the directions are given.