Lesson 36: Making lists with や and とか and と and か
While english makes lists by separating words separated by pauses, with the nature of the list indicated by filler words or conjunctions ("like", "and", "or the likes", etc), japanese usually tags each item individually, with the tag expressing the nature of the list.
Tagging items individually is grammatically simpler in japanese. The final instance of an individual tag is usually dropped with the simpler tags.
や makes a non-exhaustive list, and doesn't strictly require each item, but the idea of them as a class of things is maintained.
スプーンやフォークで食べること To eat with spoons or forks (or the likes).
と was covered as a side-note before, but here we'll cover it explicitly and compare it to や. と makes a "generic" list. It's not necessarily exhaustive, but still counts each item individually.
リンゴと魚とタイヤキを食べた Ate taiyaki, fish, and apples.
とか makes a "vague" list. It's vague, and therefore non-exhaustive, but each item is its own; the items aren't treated as a class of things.
スプーンとかフォークで食べること To eat with a spoon or fork (or something).
か can be used in a similar way, but lists alternatives.
In fact, とか is the combination of と and か, both as listing particles. と makes a generic list of individual things, か makes a list of alternatives, and とか makes a general list of individual alternatives.
The above explanations are not literal. Japanese people don't think "I'm going to make a class of things and use や to list examples of it". Because the markers don't have 1:1 matches in english, the explanation has to be abstract. Please remember that japanese is just another language, and native speakers go through similar mental processes to what you do in your own native language.