The Minor Arcana is a set of 56 cards, numbered from Ace to Ten, and including a Page, Knight, Queen, and King. This is similar to ordinary playing cards, except that the Pages are included in the Tarot deck.
In many Tarot decks the numbered cards have no images aside from perhaps the symbol of the suit and the number of the card. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, every card has an image.
As in the playing cards, Tarot Minor Arcana have four suits. There are Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, corresponding to clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds respectively.
The Major Arcana generally signify important life events, having more to do with archetypes. The Minor Arcana have to do with more mundane situations, the experiences of daily life.