This article draws from Hiroko Kawaguchi Warshauer's conceptualisation of productive struggle, which capitalises on experiences that elicit struggle, that is, those that require students to 'expend intellectual effort' and that are productive, in the sense that they seek to 'advance thinking and deepen' understanding of mathematical concepts and ideas. The authors distinguish between productive and destructive struggle, and describe benefits of a pedagogy of productive struggle in the mathematics classroom. They then advocate for the use of challenging mathematical tasks as a means of utilising productive struggle in the mathematics classroom, to elicit and strengthen deeper mathematical understanding in students.