Stick both ends of a toothpick into connectors. A connector can be a ball of clay, a gumdrop or a mini marshmallow.
Stick another toothpick into one of the connectors on the original toothpick. Stick the toothpick straight into the connector to make a straight line, at a 90-degree angle to make a corner for a square or rectangle, at a 45-degree angle to make a corner for an equilateral triangle or at a slight angle to make a curved line.
Add additional toothpicks to the first two toothpicks to make basic shapes, using connectors to join two toothpicks together.
Assemble basic shapes together with joining toothpicks to make animal shapes. To make a horse, for example, attach several squares together to make the body, attach a curved line to the rear to make a tail, attach a square or rectangle to the body to make a head and neck and attach straight lines to the bottom four corners of the body to make legs.