List Subpages

I’m new to tweaking my templates so please accept my apologizes.
I’m trying to create a parent page that looks like a category page. For example http://aspirefitness.ca/category/challenges/ lists them with the thumbnail etc. I’d like to have the same appearance for a parent page with it’s subpages… Can this be done?
Also is it possible to adjust the limit of posts per category? For example on my front page I only want 5 posts, but for the recipes section I’d like to have 10.

Thanks,

Jason