The present study examines a physical education class aimed at building the capacity of children with intellectual disabilities to enjoy exercises and to think and act autonomously, based on educational practices at the special needs education school for intellectual disabilities. Primary school students in the special needs education school for intellectual disabilities have a strong awareness that they are not good at doing exercise and at the same time, do not enjoy exercises, which is an issue to be addressed. Students’ self-reflections revealed that despite acquiring skills in physical education class, simply “being able” did not lead to greater enjoyment of the exercises. Therefore, to improve physical education classes, we incorporated the concept of “play” into the class. As a result of implementing this concept, it was revealed that physical education classes in which the concept of play in “physical education as play education” is incorporated, enables children with intellectual disabilities to enjoy exercising and to think and act autonomously.